|3 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. ' 






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NOTES 



JOURNAL OF E M. FLAJD, 

ONE OF BISHOP GOBAT'S PILGRIM MISSIONARIES 
IN ABYSSINIA. 



EDITED, 

WITH A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH, 

BY THE 

REV. W. DOUGLAS VEITCH, 

HON CHAPLAIN TO THE ANGLICAN BISHOP IN JERUSALEM; AND SECRETARY TO 
THE COMMITTEE OF THE JERUSALEM DIOCESAN MISSIONARY FUND. 







LONDON: 

JAMES NISBET AND CO., 21 BERNEBS STREET. 

M.DCCC.LX. 



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3 J*° 



EDINBURGH ! 

PAINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY, 

PAUL'S WORK. 



PEEFACE. 



At a time when missions to Africa are so warmly ad- 
vocated, the following unpretending volume may not 
be without its use. It will convey intelligence of the 
existence now in Africa of a mission, as yet but little 
known, to an ancient Church and once-powerful nation 
— a mission which, after struggling through many diffi- 
culties, seems now, by God's blessing, fairly established, 
with a reasonable prospect of success, provided means 
to meet its increasing wants are provided. The Editor 
would use, with slight alteration, the prayer which ter- 
minates the history of the learned Ludolph: — "The 
Almighty God stir up the hearts of British Christians 
to lend their assistance to this ancient Christian nation, 
which might prove so useful to propagate Christianity 
in these remote parts of the world, and so glorious to 
themselves and their posterity ! " And he would add 
his own fervent desire, that the simple Gospel of Jesus 
Christ, set forth before the Abyssinian Church, which 
so firmly withstood all the efforts of the Jesuits to bring 



IT PEEFACE. 

it into subjection to Borne, may, under God's blessing, 
lead it to reform those errors of doctrine and discipline 
which have crept in during the long ages of its event- 
ful and often melancholy history. 

A brief sketch of a portion of that history will be 
found in the following pages. 



At the commencement of the fourth century, Mero- 
pius, a merchant, or, as some say, a philosopher of 
Tyre, touching on the western coast of the Eed Sea, as 
he was journeying to India, was murdered by the bar- 
barous natives, who, however, spared the lives of two 
youths, his companions, Adesius and Frumentius, and 
carried them to the court of the Emperor of Abyssinia. 
Their talents soon brought them into notice. The latter 
received employment as a secretary, the former was 
employed in the buttery. 

On the death of the King, the Queen, who adminis- 
tered the government during her son's minority, pro- 
moted them to the important post of tutors to the infant 
sovereign. On attaining his majority, and assuming 
the reins of government, he granted them permission 
to return home. Adesius went at once to Tyre, but 
Frumentius, who, apparently with some success, had 
endeavoured, during his long detention at the Abyssinian 
court, to spread the knowledge of the gospel, proceeded 
to Alexandria to concert with the Patriarch, the re- 
nowned Athanasius, means for establishing an Abys- 

A 



2 CHURCH FOTJNDED — FIEST BISHOP. 

siiiian Church. Seeing his zeal, and pleased with his 
character, the Patriarch considered the mission could 
not be intrusted to better hands than those of Frumen- 
tius himself, and accordingly consecrated him first 
Bishop of Abyssinia.* 

Little is known, says Geddes, of this Church till we 
come down to the close of the fifteenth century. It 
followed the Alexandrian Church in the adoption of 
the Eutychian heresy of but one nature in Christ, con- 
demned in the Council of Chalcedon a.d. 451, and was 
thus estranged from the communion of the great ma- 
jority of the Oriental Churches; and when subsequently 
the Saracens (who, under the celebrated Ainrou, in- 
vaded Egypt, A.D. 638) extended their dominions along 
the whole northern coast of Africa, as far as Suta, it 
was so entirely severed from all connexion with Christ- 
endom, that its very existence was forgotten. And well 
would it have been for Abyssinia had it remained in 
oblivion, till some other nation than Portugal revived 
its memory, and other hands than those of Loyola and 
his fellows undertook its restoration. 

Towards the close of the fifteenth century some Por- 
tuguese vessels, which had been sent on a voyage of dis- 

* Frumentius, under the name of " Abba Salama," is celebrated 
in the Ethiopian Martyrology. — (Ludoljyh.) He was consecrated 
a.d. 330. The Abyssinian Church, till this day, has but one bishop, 
styled Abuna, who is consecrated by the Coptic " Patriarch of Alex- 
andria, of the Chair of St Mark." By the Arabic (pseudo) canons 
of the Council of Nice the seventh place of precedence is assigned 
to the Abuna of Abyssinia. 



FIRST INTERCOURSE WITH PORTUGAL. 3 

covery along the west coast of Africa by Don John II., 
having entered the river Zaire, in the kingdom of Congo, 
heard of Christians in the interior. On receiving this 
news, Don John, who was not more devoted to geogra- 
phical pursuits than to the interests of what he thought 
Christianity, viz., the ascendancy of Popery, despatched 
Pedro Calvilham, as ambassador, to open communica- 
tions with this long-forgotten branch of the Catholic 
Church. After many difficulties and delays, Calvilham 
succeeded in reaching Abyssinia, through Egypt, A.D. 
1 490, where he was courteously received by Alexander, 
the reigning Emperor. Alexander's design to send an 
embassy to Lisbon in return, was prevented by death, 
and his successor Nahod, conceiving some suspicion 
that Calvilham was a spy, cast him into prison. In the 
reign of his successor, Lebna Dengel, or David, the 
Empress Helena, regent during his minority, having 
heard of the Portuguese successes in India, willingly 
gave ear to a request from Alphonso Albuquerque, for 
aid in an expedition he was carrying on in the Persian 
Gulf ; and feeling how advantageous it would be to 
the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia, surrounded as it 
was by Mohammedans and Pagans, to enter into an 
alliance with a powerful Christian nation, she sent an 
embassy to Lisbon, A.D. 1509, to Emmanuel, Don John's 
successor, presenting him with a fragment of the true 
cross, proposing a matrimonial alliance between the 
two royal families, and engaging, if he would send out 
a fleet, to supply it with every necessary store. 



4 COMMENCEMENT OF TSOUBJLE3. 

To this embassy the King responded, but it was not 
till 1520 that his ambassadors arrived in Abyssinia. No- 
thing of immediate consequence, however, was effected ; 
nor was it till 1527, after Emmanuel's death, that they 
returned to Lisbon, bringing with them Zaga Zabo as 
Abyssinian ambassador to the Portuguese court. But 
the ultimate results were of great and melancholy im- 
portance to Abyssinia ; for we may date from this in- 
tercourse the rise of those events which, for upwards of 
a century, plunged that unhappy kingdom in rebellion 
and civil war, and deluged it with blood, and the com- 
mencement of that effort to subjugate Abyssinia to 
Borne, which all but ended in the subversion of the 
monarchy and the Church.* 

The commencement of troubles was as follows : — 
Ahmet, nicknamed Gragne, or the left-handed, a fero- 
cious Mohammedan chief, King of Arur or Hurrar, 
east of Shon,-J- apprehensive of an alliance between 
Abyssinia and the Portuguese, now becoming powerful 
in India, allying himself with the King of Adel, at that 
time at war with David, invaded Abyssinia, and suc- 
ceeded in making himself master of the fairest provinces 
of the empire. In this emergency, David resolved to 
solicit Portuguese aid, and compelling the Abuna to 
consecrate one Bermudcs, a Portuguese long resident 

* Salt calculates, that the commotions caused by the Jesuit effort 
to introduce the Roman faith lasted, with little intermission, for the 
long space of 1 14 years. 

f Ludolph, 478. 



POPE APPOINTS BERMUDES PATRIARCH. 5 

in Abyssinia, as bishop, and nominate him his successor, 
he sent him ambassador to Lisbon and Eome. At 
Rome he was received with open arms by Paul III, 
who was graciously pleased to confer on him the patri- 
archate of Ethiopia,* in all the glory of which new 
dignity he experienced a most gracious reception at 
Lisbon, whither he went from Eome, and in 1539 em- 
barked for Goa, with an order to the viceroy to send 
400 or 500 Portuguese musketeers to the Emperor's 
assistance. It arrived, however, too late for David, who 
died in 1540, "leaving his son Claudius a broken and 
distressed empire, and all princes an example of the folly 
of depending on remote foreign succours/' — (Geddes.) 

In 1541, Christopher, son of the famous Vasco de 
Gama,-f- accompanied by the Patriarch Bermudes, ar- 
rived with 400 men, and a small train of artillery, and 
found the Emperor Claudius in the utmost peril. They 
performed, so say the Jesuits, prodigies of valour, and 
not a few miracles were wrought on their behalf — use- 
less ones apparently — for, after a brief space, De Gama 
was entirely routed, captured, and beheaded. 

After his death, the fortune of war changed, for 
Claudius, having succeeded in gathering an army of 
some 8000 or 9000 men, aided by the few surviving Por- 
tuguese, engaged Gragne in a pitched battle, in which 
he was victorious, and his antagonist slain. 

* 1538. Strangely enough, recognising the validity of consecra- 
tion by a heretic — and by one bishoj)- 

f Another son, Stephen, was at this time Viceroy of Goa. 



6 PORTUGUESE CLAIM RESISTED. 

On his restoration to the qniet possession of his 
throne, Claudius shewed every disposition to treat the 
Portuguese with kindness. But the arrogant conduct, 
and the absurd demands of the Patriarch, soon produced 
discord. He claimed from the King, under pain of 
excommunication, and the loss of the Portuguese 
alliance, the fulfilment of an alleged promise to embrace 
the Eoman Catholic faith, and cede one-third of his 
dominions to the Portuguese. The King stoutly denied 
that any such promise had ever been given — declared 
that, in his opinion, Popery was Nestorianism, and the 
Pope a heretic,* and that he (Bermudes) had nothing 
to do with his subjects, who had a patriarch of their 
own, the Patriarch of Alexandria, to whom they were 
subject ; and to prove his determination to maintain the 
established order of ecclesiastical affairs, as the Abuna- 
ship was vacant, he sent, more major um, to request the 
Patriarch would consecrate and send one without loss 
of time. His request was immediately complied with, 
and on some impertinent interference on the part of Ber- 
mudes, the King committed him to prison. After some 
months he contrived to escape, and took refuge with the 
Baharnagash (Coast-king) of Tigre' ; and thus ended 
the first act of the sad drama of Bomish effort in Abys- 
sinia. The second introduces the Jesuits on the stage. 

* A somewhat similar judgment was pronounced by the Oriental 
Churches, on the settlement of the affairs of the Russian Church. 
" Old Rome has fallen through the AjwllinaHan heresy." — Moura- 
yieff 's " History of the Russian Church." 



SECOND ROMISH MISSION. 7 

The peace obtained by this expulsion of the Eomish 
missionaries was not destined to last. The celebrated 
Ignatius Loyola cast his eyes on Abyssinia as a worthy 
field for the exercise of his talents, and applied to 
Pope Julius for permission to head a mission to that 
devoted country. The Pope, however, could not, or 
would not, spare so zealous a servant, and refused ; but, 
won over by the indefatigable perseverance* of his 
petitioner, he gave his sanction to a mission of members 
of the new order, which, "that it might represent 
Christ and His Apostles,"-)- was appointed to consist 
of a patriarch and twelve followers. Two of these were 
consecrated bishops, and were, in case they survived 
him, to succeed to the patriarchate in turns ; the re- 
maining ten were simple friars. The Papal bull was 
published February 17, 1554, addressed to " My beloved 
Son, John Nunez Baretto," appointing him " Patriarch 
of Ethiopia, and of all the kingdoms of our beloved 
Son in Christ, the illustrious Emperor of the said 
Ethiopia, which is at this time in a manner destitute 
of the consolations of a pastor." J 

* He enjoined all the Jesuits in Lisbon to petition the King 
once a month, and employed a Portuguese nobleman at Eome to 
speak to the Portuguese ambassador on the subject once in three 
days. He so faithfully obeyed the injunction, that at last, when the 
ambassador's servants saw him coming, they were wont to say, 
" Here comes our Lord's tertian ague !" 

+ Geddes, 151. 

% Pio Nono, therefore, in the mission of Cardinal Wiseman to 
restore the priesthood and Church to England, has only followed 
infallible precedent. 



8 BARETTO APPOINTED PATEIAECH. 

Baretto and his coadjutors, Andrew Oviedo, Bishop 
of Hierapolis, and Melchior Carneiro, Bishop of Nice, 
in partibus, were accordingly consecrated at Lisbon, 
from whence they sailed for Goa, where they arrived 
in 1556. But it appears the King had had some doubts 
about the readiness of the Abyssinians to secure the 
benefits intended by the Jesuit mission, and besides 
this there was an ecclesiastical difficulty to be removed. 
The Holy Father had forgotten, when he appointed 
a patriarch in the person of Baretto, that Bermudes 
already held that office. Orders to the Viceroy of Goa 
were therefore sent, by a vessel then sailing, to despatch 
messengers into Abyssinia, as soon as the vessel arrived, 
to endeavour to solve the doubts and remove the diffi- 
culty. James Dias Oprestes, Gonzalo Rodriguez, and 
Fulgentio Freyere, all Jesuits, were selected, and 
proceeded forthwith to the Abyssinian court (having 
an interview with Bermudes, then with the Baharna- 
gash, on the way.) They were courteously received by 
the Emperor, but assured that it was needless for the 
King of Portugal to send learned friars to him, as he 
had enough of his own — that he had no intention to 
submit himself to the Pope, but would follow the cus- 
toms of his ancestors, and yield obedience to the Patri- 
arch of Alexandria, the spiritual head of the Abyssin- 
ian Church,* and to him alone. With this assurance 
they were courteously dismissed. The ecclesiastical 

* According to the ancient constitution, the Emperor is supreme 
in all causes, ecclesiastical and civil. — Geddes, 32. 



PAPAL CLAIMS AGAIN URGED. 9 

difficulty, however, which still remained was very char- 
acteristically solved by the Jesuit Rodriguez. He 
returned to Bermudes, and drew so frightful a picture 
of the danger he had incurred — of his narrow escape 
from death for having asserted Roman Catholic doc- 
trines, and so insisted on the hopelessness of endeavour- 
ing, for the present, to bring about the submission of 
the Abyssinian Church to Rome, that the poor Patri- 
arch fled to Goa. There he was entertained for a year 
in the Jesuits' College, " a civility that order seldom or 
never pass to any foreigner that they have not some 
design upon," and then provided with a passage to 
Lisbon. * 

When the new Patriarch arrived at Goa, it was not 
deemed expedient that he should immediately proceed 
in person to Abyssinia; and his coadjutor, Oviedo, 
accompanied by several of the others, was sent instead. 
On their arrival, Oviedo wrote to the King, using the 
following characteristic language: — "I come from 
Rome, being sent by the Pope, to be coadjutor to the 
Patriarch, who is now in the Indies, with whose autho- 
rity I am invested, his Holiness having pleased to 
bestow it upon me." He was admitted to an audience, 
at which the same weary demands were made for sub- 
mission to the Roman See, and the same answers 

* By some accident, he was left behind- at St Helena, where he 
was detained a whole year. He contrived, however, somehow to 
get to Lisbon in 1558, where he lived for several years, never, how- 
ever, resigning his patriarchate. 



10 THEY ARE REFUSED. 

returned as before. The King, moreover, to refute 
the accusation of heresy, placed in Oviedo's hands a 
confession of faith he had lately published ; and further, 
worried by the pertinacity of the bishop, offered to 
refer the matter to his council. But the Jesuit, well 
aware that he had nothing to hope in that quarter, 
wrote an insolent letter to the Emperor, requiring an 
immediate answer, whether he would, or would not 
comply, with his demands, that he might know how to 
act* 

Yet even this insolence could not rouse the Emperor 
to adopt those stringent measures which might have 
averted the evils about to befall his kingdom. He 
temporized — he permitted discussions, in which he 
himself took a part — he even answered a tract, written 
by Oviedo, on the errors of the Abyssinian Church, in 
which, while defending it, he declared that " he had 
neither seen nor heard anything to convince him that, 
as a Christian, he was bound to submit himself, and his 
empire, to the Pope." 

Insolence at last reached its culminating point ; for, 
finding he availed nothing, either by arguments or 
demands, this foreign priest had the audacity, at 
Decome, on February 5, 1559, to excommunicate the 
Abyssinian Church. The Emperor seems to have paid 

* " Your Highness must let me have your answer to what I have 
desired in His Holiness' name, that I may take my measures 
accordingly." The whole letter is given in Geddes, and is well 
worth reading, as a specimen of the intolerable assumption of the 
Roman Church. 



ABYSSINIAN CHUECH EXCOMMUNICATED. 11 

little regard to this empty noise, but it had this effect 
on his mind, that " the more he knew of Popery and 
its ways, the worse he liked it." But his attention was 
soon called, from ecclesiastical difficulties and disputes, 
to the defence of the empire. For Nur, son of the 
King of Adel, invaded Abyssinia, and Claudius was 
defeated, and died in battle. 

Adam, his brother and successor in all except his 
dislike of Popery, was a very different character from 
Claudius, whom even the Portuguese allow to have been 
a prince of admirable natural parts, of good learning, 
and pleasing address. He declared himself the irre- 
concileable enemy of Romanism, to his toleration ' of 
which he attributed his brother's loss of his kingdom 
and life ; and, sending for Oviedo, he threatened him 
with death "if he continued sowing and divulging 
Roman paradoxes among his subjects;" and on his 
refusing to obey, and declaring he would do what he 
considered his office required, he drew his sword, and, 
but for the entreaty of the Queen and the nobles, would 
have slain him on the spot. The constant intercourse 
kept up between the Portuguese and the Baharnagash 
of Tigre', and the knowledge, through some intercepted 
letters, that they had been soliciting military aid from 
G-oa, by emissaries despatched through the Bahama- 
gash's country, increased this dislike ; and the suspicion 
of intrigue was soon confirmed, for the Baharnagash 
retired from court, and, depending on assistance from 
Goa, which, as we learn by a letter of the coadjutor to 



1 2 JESUIT INTRIGUES. 

Pope Pius V. had been promised, took up arms, and 
was immediately joined by the greater number of the 
Portuguese. The arms of Adam were victorious, and 
the Baharnagash, accompanied by the Portuguese, took 
refuge with the Turks, who, encouraged by their re- 
presentations of the distracted state of the empire, and 
of the troops they expected to receive from Goa, in- 
vaded Abyssinia. Adam wisely kept Oviedo and the 
fathers with him as hostages, and carried them to the 
war, and, staking all on the issue of a pitched battle, 
he was defeated and slain. The fathers, who were with 
the camp, were taken prisoners, and stripped of all their 
possessions. 

Adam was succeeded by Saged. The distracted 
state of the kingdom seems to have left him little time 
to attend to ecclesiastical affairs. And, during his 
long reign of thirty years, the fathers seem to have 
confined their attention to urgent applications for 
military aid, — " We are agreed," wrote the Patriarch 
Baretto, to the General of the Order of the Jesuits, 
" that nothing but a good body of Portuguese soldiers 
would ever be able to reduce Ethiopia to the obedience 
of the Eoman Church." Again, " If we had but 500 
or GOO stout musketeers, we would undertake to 
reduce it." Their pertinacity, however, while it failed 
of success, appears to have worn out the patience of 
the Portuguese government ; for the Regent Cardinal 
Don Henry, uncle to the King Don Sebastian, dis- 
gusted by their urgency and their indiscreet accusa- 



MISSION RECALLED BY THE POPE. 13 

tion against himself as indifferent to the interests of 
the Catholic Church, applied to Pope Pius V. for their 
recall, requesting that they might be sent somewhere 
else, "where they might do more good, and make less 
noise." * A Papal order was accordingly issued that 
Baretto should go on a mission to Japan or China. 
He declared his willingness to obey ; but begged his 
Holiness to consider well, before he abandoned a 
mission to a country affording the prospect of a rich 
harvest of souls, and abounding with the finest gold. 
But neither the souls nor the gold prevailed. The 
mission was abandoned ; and Baretto, while preparing 
to depart on his long voyage, died at Fremona, whither 
the fathers had retired, July 9, ] 567. 

" Thus/' in the words of Dr Lee, " ended a mission 
which, for the extent of mischief which it did and the 
villany displayed by its abettors, can only be equalled 
by that which succeeded it — undertaken with similar 
views, supported by the same base machinations, and 
terminating in similar disgrace/' 

The commencement of the next mission may be 
dated from AD. 1603. Several ineffectual efforts were 
made in the intervening period, but it was in that year 
that Peter Pays,*f* a Spaniard, appeared on the scene, 

* Geddes, 211. 

t Pays was a bold and zealous man. As early as 1588 he had 
been sent to Abyssinia from Goa, disguised as an Armenian mer- 
chant—been taken prisoner by the Turks, and endured a seven 
years' captivity. He turned his captivity to good account, by mak- 
ing himself thoroughly master of the Arabic language. 



14 SECOND JESUIT MISSION. 

again to inflict on unhappy Ethiopia a renewal of all 
its former sufferings. He succeeded, after some little 
time, in securing the favour of the King, Za Dengel, 
and received an invitation to court, where he so well 
improved his opportunity, that ere long the King con- 
fided to him his conviction of the truth of the Eomish 
doctrine, and his determination to submit himself to 
the authority of the Pope. The favour shewn to the 
foreigners, however, alienated the affections of his own 
subjects ; and the nobles, complaining that the King 
had revolted from the Alexandrian Church, united 
against him. A rival claimant for the crown com- 
plicated the affair ; and in the war which broke out 
Za Dengel lost his life. 

During the disputes which ensued about the succes- 
sion to the throne, Peter prudently retired to Fremona, 
where he found no less than four Jesuits arrived to aid 
him. And when Sultan Seged finally succeeded in 
establishing himself on the throne, two of these were 
sent to congratulate him on his success. The current 
of royal favour seems to have been turned towards the 
fathers by their endeavours ; and Peter and his coadju- 
tors were invited to court, where they so well employed 
their time and opportunities, that ere long the Emperor, 
and the Eas Cella Christos, his brother, acknowledged 
their conversion to Romanism — the latter making open 
profession of his faith — a step which succeeding events 
renders it not unjust to suspect was brought about by 
other means than simple conviction. 



CONVERSION OF THE EMPEROR AND HIS BROTHER. 15 

Both the Emperor and his brother wrote to the Pope 
and King of Spain, acknowledging their own conver- 
sion, and promising submission to the Roman See, but 
provided troops were sent to support them, without 
which they confess " it is impossible." But, in the 
meantime, the favour shewn to the Romanists, again, 
as in the former reign, excited attention and alarm, 
and drew out the Abuna from his retirement. Find- 
ing that public religious discussions had been held 
without his sanction or presence, and, moreover, that 
the Emperor had usurped episcopal functions, by inter- 
dicting the assertion of the " one nature in Christ," 
under severe penalties, he made his appearance at 
court, and even threatened the Emperor with excom- 
munication. Disregarding the threat, and offended at 
its boldness, and urged on by his Jesuit advisers, he 
issued a second decree, forbidding the assertion of the 
one nature under penalty of death. The Abuna 
thundered forth the threatened excommunication — the 
Emperor answered it by a proclamation commanding 
all his subjects to embrace the Roman faith, on which, 
at the recommendation of the Abuna, the nobles 
formed an association for defence, in which they were 
heartily joined by the great body of the people. And 
now rebellion, war, and bloodshed commenced. 

Elius, the Emperor's son-in-law, was the first to take 
up arms ; and the Queen, with many of the grandees, 
foreseeing the evils which were about to ensue, implored 
the Emperor to desist. But, infatuated by his Jesuit 



16 CIVIL WAR — DEATH OF THE ABUNA. 

counsellors, he replied, that, " although he was sensible 
that he had so far lost the hearts of his subjects, by the 
favour he had shewn to the Eoman Catholics, that they 
were all ready to rebel, he was resolved either to lose 
his crown or establish that faith in Ethiopia." A 
convention of the clergy was summoned, at which the 
Abuna was present, which ended " in leaving matters a 
deal worse than it found them." And as a last resource, 
the Abuna, attended by a large concourse of the monks 
and clergy, waited on the Emperor, and, throwing them- 
selves at his feet, implored him to give up the effort, 
which they warned him would fail — for that " he was 
not able to destroy a religion which had been main- 
tained in Ethiopia by so many emperors through so 
many ages." * But all was ineffectual. The die was cast. 

The Abuna joined the party of Elius, who was sup- 
ported by the great body of the people. But the royal 
arms were crowned with success. Elius was slain, and 
with him the aged Abuna, who had nearly completed 
the full term of a century of life. 

Encouraged by this success, the Emperor proceeded 
with his innovations ; forbad the observation of the 
Sabbath ;•(• enjoined all his subjects to work on that 
day ; and committed the proclamation of the edict to 
Joauel, the Viceroy of Begameder. Well aware of 
the storm it would raise, Joanel performed his duty 

* Geddes. 

f The Abyssinian Church observed the Jewish Sabbath as well as 
the Lord's-day. 



THE EMPEROR PROFESSES ROMANISM. 17 

with right goodwill, and an instant rebellion in the pro- 
vince was the consequence. The people flew to arms, im- 
ploring the Viceroy to lead them ; a petition he answered 
by the assurance that " he never would lay down his arms 
till he had secured their religion to them." The rebellion 
was, however, speedily suppressed. Joanel was defeated, 
and escaped to the territory of the Gallas, where he was 
murdered. 

Next followed a revolt of the Damotes, excited by 
the intolerable exactions of the Jesuits ; but that too, in 
its turn, was equally unsuccessful. And Pays, just 
before his death, had the satisfaction of seeing his 
iniquitous efforts crowned with temporary success. Eor, 
elated by his good fortune, the Emperor, thinking the 
time was come for the execution of his long-contem- 
plated design, performed a solemn act of confession 
and abjuration of heresy to Peter, by whom he was 
absolved and reconciled to the Eoman Church. 

Immediate intelligence of this auspicious event was 
despatched to Goa and Rome ; and though without any 
positive authority, the General of the Order made sub- 
mission for the Emperor to the Pope. The Emperor 
appears to have heard of this act, and of the nomina- 
tion of a new Patriarch of Ethiopia, in the person of 
Alphonso Mendez, without disapproval. Mendez speed- 
ily sailed for the East ; and arriving at Eremona 
in 1624, the public submission of the Emperor was 
fixed for the close of the year. A splendid ceremony 
was performed. The Patriarch preached on the text, 
" Thou art Peter," &c, " the common Eoman mump- 



18 FOEMAL SUBMISSION TO ROME. 

simus," as decides styles it ; and then the King solemnly 
pronounced the submission — " To the Holy Father, 
Urban VIII., who is, by the grace of God, Pope at this 
time and our Lord, and to his successors in the govern- 
ment of the Church, I swear obedience and submission, 
with all humility, at his feet, for our own person and 
empire."- After the Emperor, his son, Basilides, the 
princes, viceroys, and ecclesiastics took the oath ; and 
thus for brief space the ancient independent Church 
of Abyssinia seemed abolished.* It was but a show, 
however. The great body of the people were still 
firmly attached to the Church of their fathers, and 
ready to rise at any moment, when a leader could be 
found, in defence of the ancient religion. 

Indications of this spirit were not awanting. Two 
of the missionaries persisting in saying mass in a church 
in Tigre, were murdered the same night in their beds. 
But about two years after the arrival of the Patriarch, 
the storm burst forth. Tecla George, the Emperor's 
son-in-law, undaunted by the ill success of his prede- 
cessors in revolt, took up arms with the avowed object 
of defendinp; the Alexandrian Church. Collecting all 
the crucifixes and Koinish trumpery on which he could 
lay his hands, he made a bonfire of them ; but, un- 
happily, his next act was not so innocent ; for, provoked 
by his chaplain's refusal to return to the Alexandrian 
faith, he put him to death with his own hands. His 

* Native priests were interdicted from officiating till licensed by 
the Patriarch, and all subjects commanded to embrace the Roman 
faith. 



WRETCHED STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 19 

effort was, however, an utter failure. His forces were 
routed. He himself and his sister fell into the hands 
of the victors, and in spite of all the efforts of the 
Queen and the court, both were hanged. 

And now the state of the country was wretched in 
the extreme. Men fled " to bury themselves in caves 
and dens of the earth, whence they were either dragged 
to be burned alive, if they refused conversion, or 
smoked to death in their retreats." But success bred 
presumption, and ere long the intolerance of these 
Jesuit disturbers of the peace, worked their downfall. 

On some pretext or other, they excommunicated a 
nobleman of high rank, chamberlain to the Emperor 
and a counsellor of state, adding the indignity of cor- 
poral chastisement. And, not satisfied with this insult 
to the laity, they further alienated the monks, by for- 
bidding mass to be celebrated in a church polluted by 
the interment of the Etchegua, the head of the body, 
ordering at the same time that it should be disinterred 
as the corpse of a heretic, and thrown out to be devoured 
by the wild beasts. 

A new rebellion broke out in Bagemeder for the de- 
fence of religion, quelled only with great bloodshed, but . 
in which Kebo Christos, the royalist general fell, a loss 
soon followed by the death of another general, TecneEgzi, 
favourable to the Boman cause. Encouraged by these 
losses of their opponents, the Alexandrian party ventured 
on»a strong remonstrance to the Emperor, on the folly of 
attempting to force a religion on his subjects they were 
determined not to receive, at the $ost of all the horrors 



20 REMONSTRANCE OF THE ABYSSINIANS. 

of civil war. The remonstrance was not altogether with- 
out effect. Suspicious of a conspiracy among the Roman 
Catholics to dethrone him, and set the Ras Cella Christos 
in his place, combined with the miserable troubles which 
affected the country, tended to weaken his regard for 
the fathers, and some overtures were made for an ac- 
commodation. They met, of course, with the strenuous 
opposition of the Patriarch, and came to nothing. Fresh 
rebellion was the consequence, and fresh bloodshed, till 
the Emperor's party meeting with some ill success, a 
certain toleration was permitted to the Alexandrian 
party, which, however, while it was offensive to the. 
Patriarch, failed to give anything like general satisfac- 
tion to the Abyssinians. Civil war, therefore, still 
continued, till at last, after a sanguinary battle, in which 
no less than 8000 of the Alexandrian party fell, a pa- 
thetic appeal was made to the Emperor. " You see, sire, 
how many bodies lie before you. Whose are they ? Are 
they heathens or Mohammedans ? They are, to a man, 
Christians — your own subjects. Those breasts, sire, in- 
stead of lying breathless at your feet, would, on a better 
policy, have been the terror of the infidels. Forbear, we 
entreat you, to persevere in a contest which must end in 
the overthrow of your religion and empire." The Queen 
also added her earnest expostulations, representing how 
surely this frantic attempt to set up a new faith, in op- 
position to the general opinions, attended as it was by 
such misery and loss of life to his own subjects, must 
eventually cause his own destruction. 

These remonstrances had the desired effect in opening 



EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS. 21 

the eyes of the Emperor to the folly of the hopeless con- 
test on which he had entered. A council was summoned, 
in which it was decided that Abyssinia should return to 
the faith of its forefathers. The Jesuits remonstrated, 
but received for answer that all that could be done had 
been done to establish the Church of Rome ; that the effort 
had left the Emperor all but bereft of a kingdom and sub- 
jects, and therefore it was vain to expect more from him. 

A proclamation was immediately made, permitting; 
the free exercise of the Alexandrian faith, the priests 
to take possession of the churches of which they had 
been deprived, and to officiate as formerly. It was re- 
ceived with the most extravagant demonstrations of joy. 
Bonfires of Roman trumpery were seen blazing all over 
the land, and the praises of the Emperor were in every 
mouth. The permissive proclamation was soon followed 
by a positive decree, commanding all the subjects to re- 
turn to the ancient Church of the land ; and the Emperor 
having been permitted to undo, in some measure, 
the evil he had caused, departed this life, dying in 
September 1632, about a couple of months after he had 
restored peace to the long-afflicted realm. 

Jesuit intrigue and efforts were now brought to an 
end. Basilides, the late Emperor's son and successor, 
impressed with the conviction that his late father's sus- 
picion of conspiracy was justly entertained, banished 
the fathers to Fremona ; and soon after, intelligence 
reaching him of efforts on their part to compass their 
long-cherished ends by the aid of Portuguese soldiers 
from Goa, from Ethiopia. 



22 bishop gobat's mission. 

Since that period Komish efforts have been made, 
but without success. We come now to the commence- 
ment of a mission of a very different character. 

In the close of the year 1829, Mr Gobat was sent 
into Abyssinia by the Church Missionary Society, and 
returned to Cairo after a four years' residence, the 
results of which have been published.* He again re- 
turned, 1834, when a mission was commenced, from 
which, however, he was forced to retire, in 1836, 
from long-continued and dangerous illness. It was 
carried on till 1838, when it was abandoned, very 
much in consequence of Jesuit intrigues. In 1845 he 
was appointed vice-president of "The Malta Protestant 
College," and in the following year, Anglican Bishop of 
Jerusalem. He never forgot Abyssinia ; and on Janu- 
ary 28, 1856, four missionaries, who had been for 
some time training under his own eye in Jerusalem, 
left Cairo, and on the 9th of May following, crossed the 
frontiers and entered Abyssinia. The following brief 
notices of the progress of their enterprise are gathered 
from the Journal of Martin Mad, one of their number : — 

On the 28th of January 1856, Messrs Mad, Bender, 
Mayer, and Kienzlen, who had been educated at the 
Institution for training Pilgrim Missionaries at Saint 
Crischona, and subsequently prepared for upwards of 
a year under Bishop Gobat's eye in Jerusalem, left 
Cairo to commence a mission in Abyssinia,-)- and on 

* Gobat's " Three Years in Abyssinia." 

f " On the mode adopted by the Moravian brethren, viz : — Be- 
ginning a small settlement and cultivating the land, while the 



ARRIVAL OF MISSIONARIES. 23 

May 9, " safely arrived, with their freight of Bibles,* at 
Wochne, the first Abyssinian village and market-place." 

From thence, leaving his brethren suffering from 
illness, Mr Flad went "to the camp of King Theodoras, 
on the lake Zana, over against the isle Debra Mariam, 
some miles to the east of the place where the Abais 
(Nile) leaves the lake." The King had left the camp 
before he arrived. He therefore sought the Abuna 
Salama in the island above mentioned, who received 
him kindly, and wrote to the King on his behalf. An 
immediate answer was returned by his majesty, ex- 
pressive of satisfaction at the arrival of the mission- 
aries, directing Mr Flad to remain with the Abuna till 
his return, and enjoining the Governors of Dembea and 
Tchelga to bring on the brethren and their luggage 
from Wochne. 

"After a few days," writes Mr Flad, "the King 
arrived, and I had the honour of being invited to dine 
with him, under the royal tent, in company with Mr 
Bell (an English gentleman), Likmaguasf- to the King, 

missionaries instructed the youth of the neighbouring villages in 
the gospel of Jesus Christ, without pretending to any ecclesiastical 
authority." — Bishop Gobat's Address at the third annual meeting of 
the Jerusalem Diocesan Missionary Fund. 

* One hundred Bibles and three hundred Testaments in the 
vernacular Amharic, a grant from the British and Foreign Bible 
Society. The Society generously paid the whole cost of transport 
from London to Abyssinia. It has made two other grants subse- 
quently, making, in all, 350 Bibles, 1050 Testaments, in Amharic; 
140 Testaments, 30 Epistles, 50 Psalters, and 150 parts, in Ethiopic; 
to the value, in all, of £640, besides a grant in money of £145. 

f A military title, corresponding, in some measure, to our marshal 



24 KING REBUKES AN ATTACK ON BISHOP GOBAT. 

and Cantiba Heslu of Gondar. The conversation 
turned on Bishop Gobat. Cantiba said, amongst other 
things, ' Samuel was a good and pious priest, but his 
doctrine about the Virgin Mary is wrong. He com- 
pared her to a house in which Christ lived nine months, 
without purifying and sanctifying it ; you English are 
the enemies of St Mary, and therefore bad Christians.' 
When the King heard this, he raised himself angrily 
and said, 'Ye Gondar debteras* are like devils; you 
begin strife and contention with every one, representing 
those better than yourselves as bad men and heretics ; 
you will all receive the reward of the devil' On this 
all were silent ; and Mr Bell told me afterwards that 
we may regard Cantiba Heslu as the enemy of all 
Europeans/' 

Shortly after this interview the King shifted his 
quarters, and was followed by the Abuna and Mr Flad. 
The latter was on the point of returning to the island 
for his luggage, in order to join his brethren, when, 
most providentially, he was sent for by the King, by 
which, probably, his life was saved. " Praised be God ! " 
he says, " my life was thereby saved. A sudden blast 
upset the boat, and I, who cannot swim, would doubtless 
have been drowned. I suffered a great loss in my 
journal and only German Testament. Divers were sent 
by the Abuna and the King, but nothing was recovered. "+ 

* " Debtera " means learned. It is also applied to those who are 
preparing for holy orders. 

f The above brief extract is from Mr Flad's recollections of the 
lost journal. 



COMMENCEMENT OF MISSIONARY LABOURS. 25 



JOURNAL. 

Tuesday, June 3. — To-day I was dismissed by the 
King, with a recommendation to Bethada Warke, 
Governor of Efag, to take care of me on my journey, 
and provide good quarters every night. 

June 4. — Reached Ouarata, on the Zana, a free 
town. The country, which is exceedingly fruitful, 
though unhealthy, produces plenty of honey and wax. 
Fish is abundant. The teeth of the hippopotamus, 
which nearly equal ivory, are exported from hence, by 
way of Massowah, to the East Indies. 

June 5. — Arrived at Eaggera. On leaving Ouarata 
this morning, a nun, who met me outside the town, 
taking me, as she said, for the angel Gabriel, ran after 
me, crying and imploring my blessing and the remis- 
sion of her sins ! Many people came round me at my 
evening quarters, to whom I read out of the Amharic 
Testament. 

June 8. — Bethada Tshova — Sunday. I retired and 
was refreshed by solitary prayer and meditation on 
God's Word. In the evening my host gave a feast to 
the poor, for the good of his soul, as he said. Num- 
bers came to drink Abyssinian ale, who quite filled his 
large house. By his permission, I addressed them, as 
well as I was able, in their own language, on God's 
grace, revealed in Christ — the sinfulness of man, and 
the necessity of a change of heart and life. An 
alaca* who was present, asked, " What is your faith % " 

* " Alaca means great ; but now corresponds to rector, in English. 



26 CONVERSATION" ON RULE OF FAITH. 

" All that is written in the thirty-nine books of the 
Old Testament, and the twenty-seven of the New/' I 
replied, "we believe, and seek to live np to, and act 
accordingly ; but we do not believe other books which 
do not agree with these Divine ones/' 

" But do you not," he continued, "revere also St 
Mary, St George, St Michael, Tecla Haimanout, and 
others ? — and do you not pray to them ? " 

" We honour them/' I said, " as far as we know them 
to have been pious ; but, as no passage of God's Word 
commands it, we neither adore nor pray to them ; and, 
inasmuch as we know that they were sinners like our- 
selves, we judge such also to be sinful. It is written, 
' Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only 
shalt thou serve.' " 

He seemed grieved, and, after a pause, said, " But 
the apostles prayed to St Mary." 

" The apostles, dear friend ! this is not written in 
the Holy Scripture," I replied. 

" But it is in our books," he answered. 

" Who can say that your books are true?" I rejoined. 
" I fear many lies are written in them. But look/' 
(and I held but my Testament,) "this is the Word 
of God, the holy Gospels, and the Epistles of the 
Apostles. He who believes this, and lives accord- 
ingly, will never perish." 

However, it is not necessary that an alaca should be a priest. On the 
contrary, few priests are alacas. An alaca has the care of furnishing 
everything for, and placing priests in, the church of which he has 
the charge. There are churches which, after defraying all the ex- 
penses, bring an income of a thousand dollars yearly to the alaca." 
— Gobat's " Three Years in Abyssinia," 2d ed. p. 54, note. 



DISTRIBUTION OF BIBLES. 27 

June 9. — Arrived at Gunter, where I found my 
three brethren, Kienzlen and Mayer, ill of fever. 
They had much to relate of suffering and privations 
during their stay at Wochne. 

June 10. — To-clay many priests and scholars came 
from different churches to ask for books. To those 
who could read we gave Bibles or Testaments, in 
order that there might be one or two in each church. 
We exhorted all, on dismissing them, to study God's 
word diligently themselves, and to read it to others, 
which many of them most solemnly promised to do (in 
the face of God). 

June 11.— A Falasha (a Jew) came to-day to re- 
ceive a Bible I had promised him yesterday. He re- 
ceived it with the most extravagant signs of joy. The 
Christian priests, however, were much dissatisfied with 
my giving a Bible to a Jew. Yet every one I asked, 
even the Christians, bore testimony that he read it 
himself, and to others. 

Continuing their journey, (the three brethren still 
suffering severely from fever, distributing Bibles where- 
ever the capacity of the applicants to read rendered it 
expedient, and taking every opportunity of preaching 
to the people,) we find them — 

June 14, at Adisgje, at the house of Fentscho En- 
geda. As he had formerly asked a Bible, I now gave 
him one. Although he received it with pleasure, I 
could plainly see a pistol or a sword would have been 
a more acceptable present. The Abyssinians have a 
very general persuasion that it is only the priests who 



28 JOUKNAL — QUAEEEL WITH THE PEOPLE. 

have any concern with the Bible. I sought therefore 
to convince him how much more precious the Word of 
God is than any worldly possession, being our only 
guide to heaven. 

Early on the 1 7th, we left Adisgje, accompanied by 
Fentscho Engeda, who was met on the road by mes- 
sengers and soldiers from the King, ordering him to 
prepare provisions against the next day for a party of 
the military who would arrive. He sent for me in the 
evening. I found him surrounded by the King's sol- 
diers and his own servants, to whom he related nearly 
all I had as yet said to him on the subject of religion, 
as well as much that had been read to him, at his own 
request, by Eos Tadeous, the priest, who came with us 
from Jerusalem, and by a debtera he had sent for of 
his own accord. All listened attentively ; and the 
address, we hope, was not in vain. A soldier said, 
"It is true, we are bad Christians, and in our present 
state cannot go to heaven. Tell us what we must do 
to be saved." I answered the question as well as I 
could in their language, and I hope evangelically. 

Passing on to Emfras, where we arrived on the 18th, 
we were transferred to the protection of Gurumba 
Sahle, the Shum (governor), and here an event occurred 
which threatened us with some trouble, but at the 
same time gave us an opportunity of enforcing the 
duty of submission to the Government. 

We had dismissed the people who had brought on 
our baggage, and the Governor, who had gone to the 
market to procure animals to carry it on, severely beat 



ILLNESS OF BENDEK— VISIT TO ABUNA. 29 

a merchant who refused to give his for the purpose. 
The man threw himself on the ground, feigning to be 
mortally wounded. In the afternoon, the son and a 
kinsman of the merchant came with fetters to bind the 
Shum, and carry him to the King, that they might 
demand blood-money for the man, whom they reported 
to be dying. After a clamorous discussion, they re- 
ferred the case to me. I said, " The Shum is acting by 
the King's authority, whose subjects you are. The 
merchant has refused to obey his commands to carry 
on the baggage, and therefore he is justly punished. 
Certainly it would be wrong in the Shum to beat a man 
to death for such a cause ; but I suspect you are lying 
when you represent him to be dying. We are strangers, 
and if you carry the Shum to the King, which we can- 
not prevent, we will accompany him, to represent to 
his majesty how disobedient you have been." I then 
asked them, on their oath, whether the man was really 
dying, when they acknowledged that he was not — that 
he was much better. On this the Shum restored their 
asses, which he had seized, and thus the affair ended 
peaceably. 

On the 21st we reached Efag. Bender was so ill 
during the journey that we were obliged to put a servant 
on the mule along with him, to keep him from falling 
off. On Sunday, 22d, Mayer and Kienzlen accom- 
panied me on a visit to the Abuna. We presented 
him with an Amharic Bible, some lead pencils, sealing- 
wax, shoes, medicines, and an umbrella. He accepted 
also a box of books, from which, however, he only 



30 PROFESSIONS OF FRIENDSHIP FROM ABUNA. 

selected those in Ethiopic. His conversation was 
chiefly about medicine, agriculture, and gardening. 
But in our presence he commanded the Af Negus 
Warke to solicit from the King three houses for us, 
and provision of bread, milk, and meat. On our taking 
leave, he said, " If you need money, or anything else, 
write to me to G-ondar. I am your friend, and you are 
my brethren." 

We likewise visited the Etchegua, (head of the 
monks,) to whom we presented books in Amharic, as 
well as Ethiopian, which at first he declined. We 
overheard him say to the monks present, (not 
thinking, I suppose, that we understood the Amharic,) 
" The English are our enemies; — they bring us Amharic 
books, to render our sacred language obsolete." At last 
he accepted the books, but begged from us a silk caftan 
and an umbrella ; which we had not to give him. 

June2S. — Applications made to-day by several priests 
and debteras for Ethiopic Testaments and Psalters. We 
found, however, they were unable to translate what 
we made them read (St Matt, ii.) This gave us an 
opportunity of urging on them their wickedness in 
being ignorant of God's Word, when they had under- 
taken the office of instructors of the people, and despis- 
ing the translation which they understand. We find 
that the priests generally highly disapprove of the 
Bible's bein^ translated into Amharic. 

June 27. — To-day a messenger from the King brought 
an order to the Shiim to bring us to him at Derita. 
Many people came to us for books— among these a 



CONVEKSATION WITH A FALASHA. 31 

soldier, from a distance of fifteen miles. Considering the 
distance he had travelled a proof of a sincere desire for 
the Word of God, we complied with his request, and 
gave him a Testament, which he promised to study and 
read to his comrades. 

I had also the following conversation with a 
Falasha* : — 

Flad. "What is your belief V 

Falasha. " The law, David, and the prophets." 

Fl. " Have you these books, and in what language ?" 

Fal. " We have them, and in Ethiopia" 

I saw, however, that when I named the prophets, he 
did not know them ; and I continued, " What hopes 
and promises have you ?" 

Fal. " Our hope is the law and God." 

Fl. " But do you not know that a man cannot be 
saved by the law ? " 

Fal. "How so?" 

Fl. " The law condemns all who do not keep it ; 
God's Word tells us we are all sinners, and ' the just 
man falleth seven times a-day.' Our own experience 
shews us this ; so we cannot be saved by the law." 

He seemed deeply moved, and looked on the ground. 
After a time he raised his eyes to heaven, and sighing, 
said, " God is our hope." 

Fl. " How good it would be for you to believe in 
Jesus Christ, by whose grace you may be justified and 
saved. Without believing in Him, a man cannot enter 
into the kingdom of heaven." 

* The Jews in Abyssinia are so called. 



82 CUSTOMS OF THE 

Fal. " You believe in Christ. Well, your country is 
good, and your Christians. But the Abyssinian Chris- 
tians are bad ; their works are wicked, and their 
worship is idolatry. They bow down to images, which 
the law forbids/' 

Fl. " True ; but you are not justified by this for 
rejecting Christ?" 

Fal. " In our books there is nothing written about 
Christ." 

Fl. "David, and Moses, and the Prophets write 
about Messiah, whom God would send into the world, 
to save the world by Him." 

Fal. " I do not know this," 

He wished to go, but I detained him, wishing to gain 
some information about this interesting remnant of 
God's people. So I asked, " Have you any schools ?" 

Fal. " Yes ; but only for boys." 

Fl. " Why not for girls too V 

Fal. "Because it is not becoming to instruct 
females." 

Fl. " What do you think about the state of the soul 
after death?" 

Fal. " No one is allowed to die in our houses, be- 
cause the soul would not be able to soar freely to 
heaven. When any one is at the point of death, we 
carry him into a tent, where he remains till he dies. If 
he has lived piously, kept the law, and done no ill to 
his neighbour, his soul flies up to the place where 
Abraham and David are. If he has lived wickedly, it 
goes downward." 



THE FALASHA — INTERVIEW WITH THE KING. 33 

Fl. " Have you any communication with the Chris- 
tians?" 

Fal. " No ; we speak with them, but do not eat 
with them, or partake of anything that comes from 
them. If we meet with them, we wash ourselves, and 
our clothes seven times. We never allow them to 
enter our houses/' 

Fl. " But should a Christian, by some means, enter 
your house, would you injure or kill him?" 

Fal. " Oh, no ; that would be a sin ; but the place 
where he sat, and wherever he stepped, would be 
washed seven times." 

Fl. " How many Falashas do you believe to be in 
Abyssinia ?" 

Fal. " Lo ! as many as there are hairs on my head." 

Fl. " At what time did you come into Abyssinia ?" 

Fal. " I know not ; our priests do."* 

The following day, the 28th, the King counter- 
manded the order for going to him at Derita, directing 
them to remain at Efag till his return from an expedi- 
tion to Weinnadega, when he promised to carry them 
with him to Debra Tabor. But finding it impossible 
to procure lodgings, or even food, Flad and Mayer 
went to Derita, where they were graciously received, 
and were furnished with an order for " a good house" 
and provisions. At this interview, " we," writes the 
Journal, " presented the King with an Amharic Bible 

* Some Christians, who were present at the conversation, esti- 
mated the numbers at 10,000. — Ed. 

C 



34 EVIL EEPOET OF MISSION AEIES TO THE KING. 

adorned with gold, an Amharic atlas, and a work on 
ecclesiastical and profane history, several Amharic and 
Ethiopic New Testaments and Psalters, and a Bible, 
with other gifts. On receiving them, to our great 
delight, he said, looking at the Ethiopic books, ' What 
is the use of these ? — the translation is far better.' 
Mr Bell, however, acknowledged to us after the inter- 
view, that at that moment his Majesty would have 
been more pleased with a box of English gunpowder 
than, as he said, with books he already possessed. He 
told us also that evil, and, as he believed false, reports 
had reached the King's ears. Betwodet Beru, for in- 
stance, says, that on your journey you received the 
sacrament without any church or tabot ;* and his 
father confessor reports that you have been distribut- 
ing books, and have written down the names of all who 
receive them, sending them to England, saying, 'All 
these have accepted our faith.' He warned us, if we 

* The tabot is accounted very sacred. It is a plank of wood, 
about an ell in length and one half in breadth. In the centre is one 
large cross, inscribed with the name of Christ, with twelve smaller 
ones round it, with the names of the apostles. It is placed in the 
chancel, (Holy of Holies, as they call it,) and the elements at the 
celebration of the Lord's Supper are placed on it, and also brought 
out on it, to be distributed to the communicants. It is considered 
a representation of the ark of the covenant, said to be preserved 
in the Church of Axum. The tradition is, that Menilec, the sup- 
posed son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, from whom the 
royal family are said to have sprung, having been educated at 
Jerusalem under his father, on his return to Abyssinia, stole many 
of the sacred utensils from the Temple, and among the rest the 
ark, which he deposited at Axum. — Ed. 



INTEKVIEW AGAIN WITH THE KING. 35 

desired to remain in Abyssinia, to say nothing about 
faith and religion,* and avoid all appearance of teach- 
ing. What falsehoods have been spread about us ! In 
all calumny, disgrace, or persecution, Lord Jesus be 
Thou with us!" 

Mr Flad had another interview with the King on the 
following day, affording an opportunity of explaining 
the subject of missions. After some conversation 
" about the construction of bridges, road-making, house- 
building, and burning lime, Af Negus Warke inquired 
earnestly "who were the people who sent so many books, 
and what was their motive V I told him that, some 
time ago, Samuel Gobat, now a bishop in Jerusalem, 
who had visited Abyssinia, and still greatly loved the 
people, had sent us with these books, because he knew 
they had very few copies of the Word of God in their 
own language. Besides, there are many pious people 
in England and Germany who consider it a Christian 
duty, though the expense is very great, to send the 
Bible to all nations in their own languages, — moved 
to this by the love of Jesus, and their desire for the 
eternal salvation of their brethren, through Him. He 
was much astonished at this, and observed, " This shews 
that the English are good Christians." 

For a brief space the missionaries were housed in a 
miserable abode, at a place called Bata, where, not only 
they had barely room to move about among their bag- 

* How different the King's feelings are now, and how unnecessary 
the caution of Mr Bell, will be seen afterwards. The position of 
the missionaries at this moment must have been very trying. — Ed. 



36 CONVEESATIONS 

gage, but, though three were suffering from fever, were 
frequently obliged to shift their beds during the night, 
to escape the torrents of rain which poured down 
through the roof. Still, from day to day, they con- 
tinued their work, availing themselves of every oppor- 
tunity of preaching the gospel, and distributing the 
Word of God. 

They had many conversations with the priests. One 
or two specimens follow, as a sample of what is fre- 
quently to be found in the Journal : — 

Friday, June 4. — Some priests, with their scholars, 
came to-day for books, which we supplied. With 
Walda Sellasse I read Matt. viii. ■ When I asked how 
he explained the word faith, he answered, " To believe 
in the tabot, St Mary, St Michael, St George, Tecla 
Haimanout," &c, and in the Triune God. I read 
Heb. xi. with him, and sought to shew him, from 
it, what true saving faith is. But the Abyssinians too 
generally understand nothing of the evangelical faith 
described by St Paul. It is hidden from them. 

Again, on the 9th. — Tickle, priest of the church of 
Eaphael, came to-day. We had a long discussion about 
faith, baptism, the Lord's Supper, and fasting. The 
latter he asserted was commanded in the Word of God, 
promising to shew me the passages at his next visit, as 
well as commands to observe circumcision, and to 
baptize male infants on the fortieth, females on the 
eightieth day after birth. I then led the conversation 
to some of the errors of his Church, urging him that 
we ought to receive God's Word as the only rule of our 



WITH PKIESTS. 37 

faith, and that it was great sin to esteem any book as 
equal to, or, as some of them do, superior to the Bible. 

Next day he returned. He at once declared their 
dislike of the Amharic translation. I told him it was 
indeed sinful to despise what they could understand, 
and value what not one in a hundred could compre- 
hend. He is counted a learned man, and not a little 
proud of his reputation. After reading Matt, ii., which 
he translated tolerably, I reminded him of his promise 
of yesterday. He made diligent search in his Ethiopic 
Testament, but, it is needless to say, failed to find the 
promised authorities. He then admitted the observ- 
ances he had mentioned were not enjoined in the gospel, 
but in other works. 

Flad. "But which word is the greater, God's or 
man's ? " 

Teckla. " God's certainly." 

Fl. " That Word, while it does not contain these 
things, teaches us we cannot be saved by fasting, and 
alms, and observances, but only by faith in Christ, by 
whom we are justified, and have peace with God." 

He seemed not to like this turn of the conversation, 
and sought to change it. " Do your priests marry," 
he asked. 

Fl. " Yes ; even our bishops." 

Tec. " What ! your bishops have wives ! ! " 

Fl. " Certainly." Read 1 Tim. iii. " A bishop 
must be the husband of one wife/' &c. 

Having read half through the chapter, he said, 
" We make some difference in our estimation of 



38 SUFFERINGS OF THE MISSIONARIES. 

the Gospels and St Paul, and gave me to understand 
they scarcely acknowledge his Epistles as canonical. 
Soon after he left me, one of his scholars, to whom I 
had given a Testament, brought it back, saying his 
master had forbidden him to keep it. 

Among the provisions ordered by the King with the 
" good house " was some wine. It proved even less like 
the order than the house. On opening it, in the hope 
that it would prove serviceable in restoring the strength 
of the invalids, they found vinegar had been substi- 
tuted. "Deceit," says the Journal, "is the besetting- 
sin of the Abyssinians." They were to have a new 
and most disagreeable proof of it soon. 

On the 30th came an order to go the King at Gondar. 
The persons employed by the Shum to collect mules 
and asses for the journey made money by giving back to 
the owners all that had been promised. On preparing 
to start, therefore, they found no means of transport, and 
the day was spent in quarrelling. Late in the evening, 
however, a mule and two asses were brought, and Flad, 
accompanied by Mayer, still suffering from fever, com- 
menced a miserable journey in the rainy season. 
Swollen rivers had to be crossed — morasses, in which 
their beasts "stuck fast in the mire" — vermin at the 
resting-places, destroying rest — no wonder there was 
some depression of spirits. "0 Lord!" on one occasion 
we find in the Journal, "refresh my heart with the dew 
from above as thou refreshest the earth. 

" Spirit of Life ! come from above, 
Thou eternal, faithful God, 



ILLNESS OF FLAD. 39 

Bring to my heart, thou heavenly dove, 
The comforts of Thy holy Word. 
May unction, patience, love, and light 
Chase away my gloomy night ! " 

Suffering so, that sometimes he could scarcely sit his 
mule, the missionary continued his journey, arriving at 
Gondar, at the house of the Abuna, — 

August 5. — He spoke much of his resolution to 
build a school at Gondar, at which Arabic, Ethiopic, 
and Coptic should be taught. He said, also, he thought 
of employing Madrakal, an Arabic teacher.* 

One hurried interview with the King, at which 
nothing passed " except the usual salutations, was all 
the result of this long and distressing journey." On the 
very next day Flad had " a vehement attack of inter- 
mitting fever, with a painful abscess in the neck, 
so that I could not leave the house, nor see the King, 
who departed on the 1 3th with his soldiers, leaving 
orders for us with the Abuna to come with all our 
effects to Gondar." 

Accordingly, Flad determined to go back to the breth- 
ren, leaving, at his request, Mayer with the Abuna, who 
wished for his services " in cultivating his garden, and 

* Madrakal was an Abyssinian, educated at the Malta Protestant 
College. " For four years," Bishop Gobat testifies of him, " he had 
laboured faithfully in Abyssinia, amid much poverty and privation. 
I wish I could employ him, for he is worthy. But, under my pre- 
sent pecuniary circumstances, I dare not undertake it." Could the 
bishop be enabled to employ him his experience of the country 
would be very valuable, and the excellent education the college has 
given him be turned to good account. — Ed. 



40 INTERESTING CHAEACTEE. 

making a veranda to his house." The journey com- 
menced on the 15th under miserable auspices. Ill of 
fever, he was overtaken by a violent thunder-storm, 
and " wet through and through ;" and before night had 
to be dragged through a swollen torrent, the Gebasa 
" holding on with both hands to the wattled door of a 
house on which the luggage was placed to be carried 
over." It was a sad sort of navigation for a man ill of 
fever, but " necessity can break iron. Oh, how could I 
thank God enough, when I was at last enabled to warm 
myself at the fire, in the house of the hospitable Kidana, 
and satisfy my hunger! I had eaten nothing since 
yesterday morning." 

The account of these simple people is very interesting. 
The country was flooded, and they pressed him to re- 
main with them for a fortnight at least. But on the 
20th the abscess broke, and thus, one great cause of suf- 
fering being removed, he continued his journey. 

"Kidana and his wife/' pursues Mr Flad, "are 
peaceable, pious, and devoted people. They are well 
spoken of by all. She attends me like a mother, de- 
claring it is all for Christ's sake, who commands us to 
be careful to entertain strangers. When I spoke to him 
about man's sinfulness and need of redemption, he told 
me that when young he had been very wicked ; that he 
had lived in fornication, as most Abyssinians do, but 
that about fifteen years ago he had reformed ; that he 
and his wife were Bala-Korban : i.e., living in legiti- 
mate wedlock, and that together they frequented the 
church, and received the Lord's Supper." 



CONVEKSATION — ST PAUL REJECTED. 41 

On the 22d Flad rejoined his brethren at Bata, and 
found them all recovered. 

As soon as he returned, Tickle, mentioned before, 
came, intent on proving the obligation of circumcision. 
Considering he is reputed a learned man, the conver- 
sation affords a fair specimen of the state of religion and 
intellect in the country : 

He thought the point proved by St Luke ii We 
argued this was not a command but a narrative ; that 
Christ being " born under the law," was of course cir- 
cumcised, but that this was no proof that we should be 
so too. Besides, St Paul says, Gal. v., " If ye be circum- 
cised Christ shall profit you nothing.' - ' On this he 
said, " leave out St. Paul,* I do not accept him." "Well," 
I said, " if you do not accept St Paul, I shut my book ; I 
have done with you. Nor can I esteem you to be a 
priest — for a priest cannot despise the Word of God/' 
I spoke to him earnestly, and to my great grief got 
rather irritated. When I became silent, he said — 
" Well, I will hear what St Paul says." On which I 
read Gal. v. vi. with him, and St Matt, xxviii. 20, as a 
proof that our Lord commanded his apostles to teach 
and baptize, but not to circumcise. I then shewed him, 
from Acts vii., that the first Abyssinian Christian was 
only baptized. We, however, made no impression ; he 
only laughed, as if it was an indifferent matter. 

* The priests very generally appear, by the Journal, to undervalue 
St Paul. On another occasion an old priest said, " St Paul is of no 
use for us— he is for you, the English. St Mark is ours ; St Mark 
and the ecclesiastical fathers are sufficient for us." — Ed. 



42 priests' idea of apostolical sue cession. 

Till the close of the year the missionaries were in a 
very unsettled state. On January the 2d, 1857, we 
find them all at Gondar. Darius the intervening 
period they had many opportunities of preaching the 
gospel, and it was during the same time that they first 
came into communication with the Falasha. They com- 
j^lain much of the deceitful character of the people. 
The debteras, for instance, as they found at last, were 
in the habit of coming, some as many as three times 
over, in different dresses, and under different names, to 
get books, which, when they succeeded in obtaining, 
they sold. And, as their acquaintance with the priests 
improved, they found no reason to form a better esti- 
mate than the people themselves, who declared, "our 
priests are no good priests — they do not instruct us in 
the gospel.'"' They found them impressed with a sad 
idea that the " power of the keys" conferred a species of 
immunity from guilt ; for. having detected a priest in 
flagrant falsehood, and warned him '•'• that all liars must 
have their portion with the father of lies/' he answered, 
laughing scornfully, " we are followers of the apostles ; 
whether we commit fornication or perjury it matters not, 
since the power of the keys is in our hands. " " Such is the 
language/' says Flad, "of numbers among them; and when 
I sometimes indulge a hope for Abyssinia, the monks, 
priests, and debteras always rise up before my mind, as 
incorrigible themselves, and the opponents of any good 
influence we may exercise on others. I fear they are 
enemies of the truth, and of the cross of Christ. I took 
occasion once to express my opinion to them very 



FALASHA. 43 

plainly, on their great moral inferiority to the Jews. 
They assert them to be wizards and cannibals — eating 
men by some secret process of sorcery. ' In truth,' " I 
said, " ' I love the Falashas more than I do you, for their 
works are better and more godly than yours.' " (I proved 
this by instances). " I respect them too, because they are 
descendants of the ancient people of God, who has given 
them glorious promises, which are yet to be fulfilled. 
When our fathers were yet heathen, theirs were wor- 
shippers of the true God. And, remember, Abraham, 
and David, and Solomon were Falashas themselves." An 
old man who stood by, broke out into loud exclama- 
tions — " Such a thing I never heard — David a Falasha ! 
" Yes, my friend," I said, "and the man after God's own 
heart, too." He struck his head with both hands, again 
exclaiming, "David a Falasha! David a Falasha!! 
Such a thing our priests never tell us." " Well," I said, 
"the Bible tells it you." "You are a man of God." 
was his reply. 

After this period their intercourse with this interest- 
ing people was very constant, and the eagerness they 
evinced to possess the Bible — " their Father's word," 
as they beautifully styled it — was very gratifying. Nor 
did they evince any of that extreme excitement on being 
exhorted about Christianity, so unfortunately prevalent 
among Jews, in almost all other parts of the world. 

The following is one out of many conversations re- 
lated in the Journal : — 

Dec. 24. — I conversed with a Jew well acquainted 
with Old Testament history. He asked, " To whom 



44 CONVERSATION WITH A FALASHA. 

were the words ' Let us make man in our own image/ 
addressed." I read St John i 1-6 to him in expla- 
nation. He was surprised at the passage, and remarked, 
" We do not know how to explain the plural number in 
this passage." We then went on to Deut. xviii. 13-19. 

Flad. " Who is this prophet ? " 

Fal. "Christ/'- 

Fl. " Why do you not hear him ? " 

Fal. " We believe in Moses and the prophets, and 
keep the law ; what do we want more ? " 

Fl. " Dear friend, you are in want of everything ; 
you have no Saviour to reconcile you to God. Be sure 
you are not able to fulfil the law perfectly ; you are a 
transgressor of it, a sinner, and therefore you are cursed 
by the law for ever." 

Fal. " It is true, I am not able to fulfil the law 
perfectly." 

Fl. " Well, God is holy, and no unreconciled sinner 
can stand before Him. Who will take away your sins V 

Fal. " We have sacrifices, but I know they are not 
sufficient." 

I then began to proclaim to him Jesus Christ as the 
all-sufficient sacrifice for sin, and experienced in a great 
measure the assistance of the Lord. May He bless the 
conversation ! When he left me he said, " If the Jews 
hear that friends have come to them, who love, and have 
brought them, the Word of their fathers, they will all 
come and converse with you." 

This assurance proved true. The Jews came in 
numbers, and we distributed all the Bibles we had 



ARRIVAL OF THE COPTIC PATRIARCH. 45 

remaining, but had not sufficient for all. Those who 
did not receive could hardly be persuaded to go away. 
We could only get rid of them by promising to bring 
in a year a fresh supply from England. Two Jewish 
boys, seeing we had not Bibles left, asked for New 
Testaments. It is quite inexplicable how the news of 
our giving Bibles to the Jews could have spread so 
quickly. It is little more than a week since we com- 
menced, and yet they have come to us from distances of 
from three to five days. The Lord's name be praised that 
He has opened a way for His Word, among the poor 
despised seed of Israel, in Habesh ! May He help us 
soon to bring a large number of Bibles to spread among 
His people ! The servants of the Abuna blamed us for 
receiving the Falashas into the house, fearing lest any 
of them, being boudas* should devour some of the 
children. They say, besides, that the Abuna will be 
angry at our meddling with them. 

About this period the Coptic Patriarch, the spiritual 
head of the Abyssinian Church, arrived at Tschenda,-f- 
on a visit to the Abuna, and a mission from Said Pacha 
to the King. Important results ensued from this visit, 
as will presently appear. 

* Sorcerers. 

+ Tschenda is a monastery and large town, the property of the 
Abuna. It is chiefly inhabited by Coptic Christians, and most 
of the Abunas are buried there. There are, however, a good num- 
ber of both Jews and Mohammedans. A rabbi resides here, who 
is said to be an accomplished and amiable man, deeply skilled in the 
Ethiopic language. The Abuna was willing to allow the missionarie* 
to settle here. — Ed. 



46 ABYSSINIAN CHRISTMAS. 

At Gondar, on January 6, was celebrated the Abys- 
sinian Christmas.* " It well deserves," says the Jour- 
nal, " its Amharic name ' Baal,' " which is the word in 
that language for a festival. During the whole night 
all were in the churches. In the morning, at sunrise, 
they commenced slaughtering cattle, the flesh of which 
they eat raw, drinking immoderately. It is a common 
saying among them, that it is a shame on this day for an 
Abyssinian to be sober enough to see the sun at noon. 

Immediately after this abominable festival, the 
missionaries resolved that one of the number, Bender, 
should return to Jerusalem for a large supply of Am- 
haric Bibles and Testaments, as well as for necessaries 
for the proposed settlement at Gondar, near Tschenda. 
The King's permission was necessary for both the journey 
and the settlement ; the Abuna's for the latter, as the 
land was his private property. Accordingly, Flad and 
Bender set out together for the royal camp, in the 
Tshin-Mieda,f a little to the north of Debra Tabor. Part 
of the route lay through the province of Begember, 
which produced luxuriant crops of barley, and abounded 
in horses and sheep ;J and " the fine fresh Alpine air," 
writes Mr Flad, " refreshed us after the heats." On 
arriving, we went at once to Mr Plowden, H.B.M.C., 
and Mr Bell. The former gave us one of his tents and 
abundant refreshments. The same evening we paid our 

* The Abyssinians reckon 7349 years from the creation. They 
date the Nativity about the year 5500. 
+ Plain of Kings. 
X Eight or nine sheep could be purchased for a dollar. 



QUARREL OF THE KING WITH THE PATRIARCH. 47 

respects to the Patriarch and the Abuna. With the latter 
we settled everything to our satisfaction, and got per- 
mission from the former for Bender to join his party on 
his return to Cairo. It only remains now to secure the 
King's leave, with whom we hope to have an audience 
to-morrow. The consul encouraged us to hope that we 
should succeed, and that the King would be willing to 
contribute £100 for the expenses of the journey, in 
order to facilitate the arrival of some workmen, with 
their tools, whom Bishop Gobat was endeavouring to 
procure for him. On the morning of the 1 2th I was 
called to the King, but the business in hand made our 
affairs be put aside for the time. He had quarrelled 
with the Patriarch and Abuna ; imprisoned them in a 
house which he had so surrounded with thorns that 
none could approach ; taken away all their attendants 
but five, disarmed all the Copts, and quartered them 
with Abyssinians, and set a guard of soldiers over them. 
As far as we could gather, the reasons of all this were 
as follows : — The Patriarch, wishing to return to Egypt, 
had asked of the King a mitre for himself, to procure 
which he had brought considerable wealth with him. 
He also solicited the King to write a friendly letter to 
Said, Pacha of Egypt, and send him presents, request- 
ing him to restore to the Patriarch some Christian Copts, 
whom he had taken for soldiers ; and, lastly, that he 
(the King) would send all English and Germans out of 
the country, in return for which he would send him thirty 
workmen from Egypt, with various other presents. The 
Abuna, on his part, had demanded of the King the 



48 ASSEMBLY IN THE ROYAL QUARTERS. 

liberation of all captives, and permission for himself 
to accompany the Patriarch to Cairo, another Abnna 
being sent from thence to supply his place. This is 
all I could learn, but there were certainly other things ; 
and the impression made on the King's mind was, that 
the Patriarch was in the interest of Said Pacha, and had 
nothing else in* view than to bring Abyssinia into his 
'power. When, therefore, the next day Mr Bell spoke 
to the King on our behalf, he sent us kind salutations, 
but orders not to return to Gondar, till he had settled 
his difficulties with the fathers. To Mr Bell he said, 
" I look on them, as well as on Mr Plowden and your- 
self, as my friends, and you and they shall be witnesses 
how these fathers deal with me." 

We were almost immediately summoned to the royal 
quarters. We found all the soldiers drawn out ; and 
when we entered, the King received us in the most dis- 
tinguished manner ; and, turning to the assembly, said, 
" These are sincere friends of mine. They seek our 
welfare, and have brought us Bibles and Testaments in 
our own language. But one holy father (the Patriarch) 
is come as a merchant and ambassador, asking for 
wax and ivory, and mules and zebal, &c, and for 
friendship with the Mohammedans, and advises me to 
send all Europeans, whom I love, out of the country." 
To a number of priests who were assembled, imploring 
for the liberation of the Patriarch and Abuna, he 
caused a letter to be read, which they had drawn up 
for him to send, as from himself, to the Pacha, and 
dismissed them, saying, " Consider this letter, and the 



THE king's address. 49 

intentions of my fathers, and you will see I do not 
wrong them. I am Christ's servant. He made me 
king, and gave me the victory over all my enemies. 
I am labouring, for His honour, to protect our Church 
against Mohammedans ; and,- by His power, I endea- 
vour to lead all heathens around me to Christianity. 
But he (the Patriarch) comes asking for a mitre, and 
to make us subjects of Said Pacha. But, God helping 
me, as long as I have life I will keep down the 
Patriarch, the Bishop, and Said Pacha — yea, even the 
Queen of England, should she help him. If I wrong 
them, may God hear their prayers, and give them 
wings to escape over the hedge that surrounds them. 
Then I will repent. These Englishmen " (pointing to 
the consul, Mr Bell, and us) " are my friends, and have 
good intentions towards me, I know. They shall be 
my witnesses ; and I will send accounts to all the 
Courts of Europe, and they shall judge of my conduct." 
His Majesty spoke with great vehemence and excite- 
ment. 

He then sent us with some Abyssinians to seize all 
the money, dresses, &c. of the Patriarch. It was very 
disagreeable to us to be employed on such a service ; 
but, in the King's present mood, we dare not refuse. 
Why have we come into the camp at this troubled 
time? Lord, Thou knowest. The dresses of the 
Patriarch were carried into the church, his jewels and 
money into the royal tent. The latter, to his Majesty's 
astonishment, amounted to 1002 napoleons. This, 
but for the earnest remonstrances of his grandees and 



50 THE PATRIARCH RELEASED. 

counsellors, and the British consul, he would instantly 
have distributed among the poor. 

During five days the incarceration of the prelates 
continued, and there were many interviews. On the 
1 6th, the differences were composed, and a high festival 
of reconciliation was held in the camp. The whole 
army and nearly a thousand priests and debteras were 
assembled. We were also called. Before all, the King 
confessed that he had erred — that he had been insti- 
gated by the devil — but was now ready to humble 
himself, and seek reconciliation with his fathers. He 
then sent a messenger to them, begging pardon and 
reconciliation. On the return of the messenger with a 
kind answer, he ordered all the barriers to be re- 
moved, went himself, and, kneeling, confessed his error, 
and begged for pardon. The royal crown was then 
brought forth, and consecrated by the Patriarch. He 
then consecrated the King, and crowned him Emperor 
of Abyssinia. The state chairs of the Patriarch and 
Abuna, which had been seized, with the rest of their 
property, were then brought, carried by the King him- 
self, and restored to them. The whole assembly then 
went in grand procession to the royal tent. 

Still the King's mind was not entirely satisfied. He 
therefore commanded a Testament, an image of Christ, 
wearing the crown of thorns, and a picture of the 
Trinity, to be brought out of the church, and caused 
both to swear by them, in presence of the whole 
assembly, that their intentions towards him were good 
and faithful. The Patriarch, with great eloquence, 



THE PATEIAECH'S SPEECH. 51 

asserted his love and loyalty, and solemnly blessed, 
first the King, and then the people. His address to 
them he concluded with the following strange ex- 
pression : — " Never forsake the Alexandrian faith — 
cleave to it steadfastly. You will be saved by it ; and 
if not, I will go to hell instead of you." 

I thought I could see the Abuna was by no means 
satisfied. But the whole scene touched my heart. I 
was especially moved by the King's address, particu- 
larly where he said, " I am the servant of Christ, 
called by Him to the throne, and desiring only to do 
His will — to protect the Abyssinian Church, and to 
extend it among the heathen nations." 

In the evening the Abuna sent for me. He was full 
of joy, and very kind, as was the Patriarch also. I 
asked pardon for the part I had been obliged to take. 
He replied that he could perfectly place himself in my 
position, and that I was quite right to obey the King. 
" I believe," he said, " you love me — and I love you. 
You are my only friendly acquaintance in Abyssinia/' 
He then entered at large on the vexation and annoy- 
ance every Abyssinian prince had caused him. 

Two days subsequent to these events, January 18, 
the annual feast of the Baptism of Jesus was celebrated. 
On the previous evening, the tent-church of the camp, 
with the tabot, was carried by the King, the Patriarch, 
the Abuna, and the soldiers, to a neighbouring stream. 
At sunrise, every one who could went to the water ; 
and as soon as the Church-service was ended, the tabot 
was carried to the bank. It was washed in the stream, 



52 VISIT TO BATHS. 

and then, as well as the stream, consecrated by the 
Abuna, by which they believe that the Holy Ghost 
descends into the stream, as He came down at the 
baptism of Jesns in the Jordan. Immediately all, 
young and old, threw themselves into the water. The 
Lord's Supper was then celebrated ; after which the 
tabot was carried, with great pomp r and the firing of 
cannon, and music and dancing, back to the camp. 

January 27. — To-day the King, who has not yet 
given us the permission we have sought to return 
to Gondar, sent us compliments through Mr Bell, say- 
ing, "Be not afraid that I keep you here so long. I 
look upon you as my friends. Since Mr Bender is pre- 
paring to return to Jerusalem, and I wish to send a 
gift to the bishop, Samuel Gobat, and to his wife, you 
must wait till the affair with the Patriarch is finally 
settled. Then I will send you off with honour." 

February 8. — Plans are all changed. Mr Bell hav- 
ing got the King's permission for himself and Mr 
Consul Plowden to go to the baths of Wansaje,* asked 
leave for us to return to Gondar. He ordered him 
instead to carry us with him to the baths. Mr Bender, 
who is suffering from fever, declined the journey ; but 
I, who am suffering from an abscess on my foot, for 
which the waters are thought good, avail myself of it. 

Saturday, 14. — We arrived at the baths yesterday. 
The second night of our journey we passed at Arango, 

* A warm, sulphurous spring, of the temperature of 108 deg., 
much and successfully used by the Abyssinians in all sorts of 
cutaneous disorders. 



INTERVIEW WITH THE KING. 53 

about half-way down the heights of Bagemder, where 
are the ruins of a church and castle, built by King 
Amticzan. I had a long conversation with a Galla, 
from. Gumma. The Gadderu-Gallas have lately sent 
three horses to the King, as a token of friendship. It 
is said that this tribe has never been subdued by any 
Abyssinian king. The consul and Mr Bell went fishing 
with great success. The method is curious : — They 
threw a madega* and a-half of the bruised fruit of the 
Berbera tree into the water. Very soon the fish came 
to the surface, rolling about as if intoxicated, and were 
easily taken in nets and baskets, to the number of 
about a hundred. 

Tuesday, 17. — Left for Guramba, another hot 
spring, of the temperature of 127 deg. Abyssinia is 
very rich in these springs. At Melsha, a small pro- 
vince in the south of Zana Sum, there are no less than 
seven, of various temperatures and mineral qualities. 

The next day orders arrived for Mr Bender to join 
the King at his camp. He complied, and had the 
satisfaction of finding his brother-labourer perfectly 
recovered ; and two days after they, with a Mr Coffin, 
were invited to the royal tent. The interview is thus 
described : — 

" As we sat quietly in the forepart of the tent, the 
King said, ' Why are you so quiet, my children ? Do 
not be afraid. Am I not your father ? I am king ; 
but in God's eyes we are all equal. You are servants 
of Christ ; so am I. I am king ; but there is another 
* Madega, a measure containing about a bushel. 



54 king's secrecy. 

king over me, that is Christ/ — ' Yes, sir,' I replied, 
'you are king, and, I believe, ordained of God, but 
only over our bodies ; Christ is king of our souls. 
There is no respect of persons with Him. We are 
all sinners ; but He has redeemed us from our sins, 
having bought us with His precious blood, that we 
should live unto Him. Thus we are His servants.' 
— On this the King exclaimed, ' Hun at ! Hunat ! ! ' 
(truth.)" 

Towards the close of the conversation, which was a 
long one, the King gave evidence of the deep attention 
he had paid : — 

" For when the interpreter was about to repeat what 
I had said, he stopped him, saying, 'Thou didst not 
well understand, Martin.' I will repeat his words, ' 
Martin ! Martin ! thou knowest well the Holy Book/ 
He then repeated all I had said, and dismissed us. 
Before taking leave, I asked permission to go to Gon- 
dar. ' Be not over anxious, my children,' he replied ; 
' as soon as Likmaguas and Mr Plowden come, I will 
tell you all my heart.' " 

After being kept in attendance following the move- 
ments of the camp for some time, the desired permis- 
sion was at length granted ; and, on the 3d March, 
Mr Flad again arrived at Gondar. He gives the fol- 
lowing characteristic account of the King's movements, 
while relating his wanderings with him : — 

" The King gives his confidence to no one ; he never 
says what he is about to do. If he is going to under- 
take a military expedition, and attack his enemies, he 



CONVERSATION WITH ALACA OF KEDUS GABRIEL, oo 

orders his Hawalsh (herald) to proclaim through the 
camp, • Prepare provisions for so many days/ When 
the day he has fixed for setting out arrives, he mounts 
his mule, and all follow, no one knowing whither." 

Monday, 23. — I have been engaged lately on some 
manual labour for the King and the Abuna. But still 
our missionary work has been continued. We have 
had many conversations with the priests and debteras, 
on the great points of justification by faith, and the 
great worth of God's Word in the vulgar tongue. We 
were much surprised yesterday at seeing none of the 
debteras of the Church of Kedus Gabriel, who frequented 
us most, and whom brother Kienzlen had taken par- 
ticular pains with. On inquiry, we were told that the 
Alaca had threatened to excommunicate all who came 
to us. We therefore sent him our salutations, and asked 
his reasons. He returned answer, "I have nothing 
against you, except that you do not serve our Church, 
nor adore our tabot, nor kiss our churches, nor take 
the Holy Supper with us/' Shortly after, he came 
himself. He said, " I have nothing against you ; but 
my pupils become negligent in their studies and attend- 
ance at church. For long they have been accustomed 
to spend nearly the whole day with you, so I have been 
obliged to threaten them with excommunication to 
bring them to order ! " Knowing well this was a mere 
excuse, we told him, " We cannot kiss your churches, 
nor adore your tabot, since we believe it contrary to 
the Bible, and therefore sinful. As to not serving 
your Church, we believe we have served it more than 



56 MAYEE EXPELLED FEOM THE ABUNA'S COURT. 

yourselves ; for we have distributed 500 copies of the 
Scriptures among your people, in a language they can 
understand. That serving the Church means giving 
you dollars, garments, and church utensils, we cannot 
think ; and our reason for going so seldom to church 
on Sundays and festivals is, that you perform the ser- 
vice in a language nobody understands. Such service 
does not please God, because it does not instruct, nor 
lead the people to God. If you will pray, and sing, 
and read the Bible in the Amharic, we will attend your 
services. As for the Holy Supper, if you will shew us 
your opinions, and that they are conformable to the 
Word of God, we will not hesitate to commemorate with 
you." He made no reply, but his manner indicated 
great dislike to us, arising, no doubt, from our having 
often protested against the errors of the Abyssinian 
Church — viz., that fasting, almsgiving, and donations 
to churches and monasteries justify us before God, and 
give us a meritorious claim to heaven. Brother Mayer 
was expelled out of the Abuna's court the other day, 
for no other reason than that he did not observe the 
Abyssinian fasts, nor adore the tabot, nor kiss the 
churches, nor had given donations to them. 

When I look at the blindness and ignorance of this 
people, and see how they are misled by their leaders, 
my heart is deeply moved, and I feel ready to undergo 
anything to do them good ; but then, when I look at 
the power and influence of the priests, my heart fails 
me. We have taught much last year, and, through 
God's Word, wrought conviction in many hearts ; but 



ABSUKD KEPORTS. 57 

what has been the end with most of them ? They have 
consulted their priests, and their exhortations, and 
some quotations from their holy books, have pulled down 
what we built up. Lord, thou hast said, " Behold, 
I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them 
out." Deal thus with this people ! 

February 26. — As a specimen of the ridiculous reports 
spread about us, I give the following : — Marcha Warke 
told us to-day that the priest of the Church of Kedus 
Gabriel had complained of us, for receiving Falashas, 
and reading the Bible with, and administering to them 
the Lord's Supper ! " When you sing," he said, " at 
your morning prayers, they believe you celebrate the 
Holy Supper. I have been endeavouring to convince 
them they are wrong, but to no purpose ; they believe 
one of you is a priest/' 

February 27. — The bad effect of this opinion (at least, 
we think so) appears to-day. We have received a letter 
from the Abuna, saying we must leave the house he had 
lent us here, as he wanted it for himself and the Patri- 
arch, when he comes to Gondar. He offers his land at 
Gondar, to build on for ourselves, well knowing we are 
ordered by the King not to leave Gondar. We have 
succeeded in hiring a house for eight dollars per annum. 
It is the property of Woldero Sahle Trungo, who is 
said to be a kinswoman of the King. 

April 13. — We are advised by Mr Plowden, lest 
Gondar should be attacked by the rebels, to remove 
our things into one of the churches, and to be in 
readiness for a flight to Dembea. The Governor and 



58 ABYSSINIAN EASTER. 

the Abulia are said already to have removed part of 
their property into the church for safety. 

April 14. — A Jew, Za Jasu, came to-day, a second 
time, a journey of four days, to beg for a Bible. Seeing 
his earnestness, we spared him one of our house Bibles ; 
and as they are now celebrating the Passover, I read 
with him the history of the Exodus. 

April 21. — Last Sunday was the Abyssinian Easter. 
On the Friday before, every one went to church ; but 
the worship seemed to be little more than making as 
many genuflections, and as rapidly as possible, to the four 
quarters of the heavens. He who could accomplish three 
hundred acquired great merit. The slaughtering of 
animals for the eight days' feast succeeding the fast, 
commenced soon after sunrising on Sunday. We 
had great difficulty in making our servants slay their 
animals on Saturday. They pleaded their priests' for- 
bidding them to eat on the feast, meat killed during the 
fast. We set against this God's command to rest on 
the Sabbath. They yielded, but were much displeased. 

May 22. — We have daily visitors, whom one of us 
makes a point of attending ; and we have many con- 
versations, sometimes disputes. Among our frequent 

visitors is Mr , a man of most excellent moral 

character, but a rationalist. When, lately, the text, 
" This a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, 
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners," 
was quoted, he said that the faithfulness of the saying 
was very questionable ; that we ought not to believe 
what does not commend itself to human reason — and 



1 

I 



FUNERAL CEREMONIES. 59 

therefore it was impossible to believe Christ to be God ; 
that He was only a man, a teacher of the law ; and that 
man did not need a Redeemer. " Whatever," he said, 
" in the gospel does not agree with my reason, I reject. 
In such cases, I believe the writers have added to God's 
revelation, his own notions — Jews and Mohammedans 
will be saved just as well as Christians. They all believe 
in God, and he who does so must be saved, or God 
would be unjust." 

Our hopes as to establishing a mission are not very 
bright ; and we fear, unless we consent to work for the 
King, we shall not be allowed to stay long. 

Monday, June 1. — This is a day of mourning in 
Gondar. Walda Kedana Mariam is dead, of whom they 
say, " Za Gondar amba mota," (the fortress of Gondar 
is dead.) They speak mueh in his praise. " He was 
a father to the poor, kept churches in repair, and re- 
stored the holy vessels, and often kept off the rebels 
by great sacrifices." His property is said to be worth 
60,000 dollars, 160 mules, and 40 slaves. These he 
freed before death, giving to each 1 5 dollars. He has be- 
queathed 5 dollars to each of the 44 churches in Gondar. 
I may mention here some of the Abyssinian funeral 
ceremonies. Interment generally takes place a few 
hours after death. The body, if of a rich man, is 
buried in a coffin ; if of a poor man, in a mat or skin. 
The priests come immediately after the death to pray 
over the corpse, perfume it with incense, and cross it. 
They also incense the grave. The women sing a dirge, 
and perform a funeral dance, to the hollow-sounding 



60 TIGRIS EEBELS. 

strokes of a drum, before the house. The relations and 
intimate friends sit on the ground in the court of the 
house, and utter doleful cries, rubbing their temples 
with a sort of coarse cloth, till the blood comes, and 
beating their faces with their shoes, and even with 
stones. They often carry the marks of this treatment 
for months. The funeral procession halts seven times 
for offering prescribed prayers, and singing appointed 
psalms. After seven days the friends and relations 
have a great meeting for lamentation, but also to eat 
and drink, each one bringing his provisions with him, 
as during that season of sorrow nothing is ground, 
baked, or cooked in the house. Prayers continue to 
be offered for the dead for thirty, forty, or fifty days. 
After this, the tarkar (great festival) is celebrated, at 
which the deceased is absolved from all his sins, and 
declared to be released from purgatory. To the priests 
and debteras at the feast, the words of our Lord are 

often very applicable : — " Woe unto you , which 

devour widows' houses ; " for many, who had property 
before, are, after it, found to have become poor. 

June 1 9. — We have experienced nothing worth relat- 
ing of late ; few visits. Men's minds are so disquieted 
for fear of the rebels in Tigrd One of their leaders got 
possession of the province of Woggera, and is prepar- 
ing to march on Gondar. All have been busy, our- 
selves among the number, in securing property in the 
churches, and all are longing for the return of the King, 
who is reported to be on the march. 

June 21. — Visited to-day two Copts, who are with 



ATTACK ON GONDAR EXPECTED. 61 

the Abulia. One of them shewed me a letter from the 
Patriarch, in which he writes, — "The King has conquered 
the Walloes, leaving a Christian governor. Many of 
them have been baptized.* The King intends to con- 
vert all the Mohammedans, Jews, Kamants, and G-allas. 
Within twenty days we shall come to Gondar, and then 
return to Cairo/' I do not know how far this news 
may be trusted. 

July 13. — For some days Gondar has been in a state 
of excitement, on account of Warringje, the rebel chief 
who invaded Woggera. We commit ourselves to God, 
who says, " Fear not, I am with thee." Warringje had 
made peace with Alga Tashu, Governor of Woggera, 
and Bal Ambra Warkelul, intending, when he could 
find opportunity, to make them prisoners. A friend 
of the Governor's, who was in the rebel camp, betrayed 
the plot, and a battle ensued, in which Warringje 
gained the victory. He is reported to be on his way 
to attack Gondar. Mr Plowden has advised us to flee 
to Woechne ; but the fever is raging there — we have, 
therefore, decided to remain. Should the danger grow 
imminent, we shall, with our friend, the Alaca Habeta 
Selasse, take refuge in the Etchegua's church, which the 
rebels have always hitherto spared, out of respect to the 
Etchegua's chair. 

July 22. — The most contradictory reports come daily 
from the rebel army. The day before yesterday the 
Abuna fled, with ten slaves of the Patriarch's, to 
Tschenda ; and to-day the town was thrown into confu- 

* They are Mohammedans. 



62 CONVERSATION WITH GEBEA JESUS. 

sion by the arrival of Alga Tashu, with six hundred 
soldiers, flying before the rebels. The whole town rose 
against them. They refused, however, to depart, till 
threatened with excommunication by the priests, on 
which they retired quietly. 

July 25. — Had a long conversation with Gebra Jesus 
to-day. He always leaves a good impression on my 
mind. He is learned, but humble, modest, and willing 
to be instructed in the best things ; but sadly super- 
stitious withal. He defends the ceremony of kissing 
churches ; yet when I said, " Kiss Jesus, by a holy obe- 
dience, and you will be dearer to Him than if you 
kissed daily all the doors and windows of all the forty- 
four churches in Gondar," he replied, " This is true — 
I believe it;" still he pleaded for the custom. We 
then got on the adoration of the saints. " They them- 
selves/' I said, " disapprove of your doing so." — See 
Rev. xix. 10. 

Gebra Jesus. " But to get at a king or great man, 
we need a balderata.* If, then, St Michael, or St 
Phanuel will be my balderata, and I ask them to pray 
to God to forgive me, I believe I do no wrong/' 

Flad. "Does a child need a balderata with his 
father?" 

Gebra Jesus. " No ; surely not." 

Flad. " Well, if the child did go to a balderata, and 
beg him to intercede, what would the father think?" 

Gebra Jesus. " He would feel ill disposed towards 
his child/' 

* Usher. 



ABSURD TRADITIONS. 63 

Flad. " This is just your case. God is your Father, 
and yet you call on some one to speak to Him for you, 
and that, too, while Jesus — God's own Son, and your 
dearest Brother — has promised to do this for you/' 
(1 Tim. ii. 5; 1 John ii. 1.) "Besides, is there any 
one omniscient, omnipresent, all-seeing, but God?" 

Gebra Jesus. " No, sir." 

Flad. "Well, then, by this you confess your balde- 
rata cannot hear your prayer, or those of the many 
thousands who are calling on him, at the same moment. 
If he could, he would be omnipresent, &c, and so 
equal to God. Would it not be better to choose Him 
for your balderata, who is God, and appointed of God 
for this very thing, the Lord God, Jesus Christ?" 

"Yea, yea," he said, smiling; "you have always 
something to say against us." 

July 27. — As a specimen of what we have to contend 
with, in our efforts to enlighten the ignorance of the 
priesthood, I record the following ; — I had a long dis- 
cussion with Eostateous, a priest and monk, who 
asserted as facts : 1. A small piece of the true cross, 
said to have been buried in the Walloo country, 
wrought many miracles. 2. Tecla Haimanout still per- 
forms miracles in Habesh. 3. The devil is found to keep 
at the distance of forty paces from every one who wears 
a cross. 4. Christ did not die for the Jews, but only for 
the Gentiles. 5. True Christians are only to be found in 
Habesh. 6. The Abyssinians became Christians before 
Christ died. 7. Christ baptized, and wrought many 
miracles when he was in Egypt; among others He 



64 THREATENED ATTACK AVERTED — IMAGES. 

baptized, and restored his sword to the malefactor 
who was pardoned on the cross, he being at that time 
a robber in Egypt. 

July 29. — Glad tidings have reached Gondar to-day. 
Therebelsof Woggera have quarrelled among themselves, 
and fought with one another, and Warringje has taken 
to flight. All cause for apprehension is now removed. 
Praised be the Lord who has mercifully delivered this 
city and province from the danger that threatened it ! 

August 13. — We visited to-day the Church of Kos- 
quam, one of the noblest in Gondar. It was erected 
by one Queen Etjegie Matowe, and is a monument of 
what Abyssinia owes to the Portuguese. The walls 
are covered with images of saints. There are also re- 
presentations of God the Father, as an old man with a 
white beard ; of God the Son, sometimes as a hand- 
some young man, sometimes as a babe in the arms of 
Mary ; and of God the Holy Ghost, as a dove hovering. 
There are also some relics of the founder : an alga,* a 
wantsha,-f* a bishop's mitre, and a coffin, covered with 
Russia leather. I returned with Wandafrash, a servant 
of the Abuna, with whom I had a long discussion on 
the profit of fasting. I tried to convince him, as I 
always do when on this subject, that it is a useful 
exercise ; but that no man, as the Abyssinians believe, 
can acquire righteousness or merit heaven on account 
of it. 

Our visit to the church brought on a long discussion 
about images. For in the evening, Debtera Dasta 

* Bedstead, or sofa. + A drinking-cup of horn. 



FEESH DISTURBANCES. 65 

called, and inquired how we liked the church, and if 
there were any such in our land? 

" Perhaps there are/' I said ; " still we do not make 
the house of God a temple of idols, as you do. Your 
people use these images as idols, for they kiss and adore 
them." 

" Unlearned people do," he said, " but learned men 
see in them only memorials of sacred history, which is 
no sin." 

" But remember," I replied, " God has forbidden you 
to make, or bow down to, any graven image, or like- 
ness of anything in heaven, or earth, or water. How 
do you understand these words ?" 

"God has, indeed, said so/' he answered; "but it is 
the custom of our land to adore images, and it seems 
to me that it is not very wrong." 

"Surely that is scarcely to be questioned," I said. 
"I feel sure you do wrong. In this, as in other things, 
you have departed from the Word of God. Neither 
Christ nor His apostles have recommended to us the 
worship of saints ; and the early Christians had no 
images. It was not till after the third century, when 
Christians began to fall from the love of God and true 
religion, and forgot that the true worshippers must 
worship the Father in spirit and in truth, that they 
began to use images." 

He candidly admitted all this, and ended our con- 
versation by saying, " This is true — you are right ; we 
must teach our people better." 

August 19. — A fresh disturbance in Woggera has 



66 AVENGER OF BLOOD. 

given us an opportunity of noticing how in some things 
the Abyssinians observe, but in a perverted way, Jewish 
legal customs. The rebels, who had fallen out among 
themselves, made it up, and jointly appointed a go- 
vernor over Woggera, and made an inroad into the 
province of Semien. Two of Alga Tashu's soldiers, 
however, murdered him, and fled for safety to the 
monastery of Gondar. If a murderer flies to a monas- 
tery, and rings a bell appointed for the purpose, the 
priests protect him, and he can only be delivered up to 
the avenger of blood, after the murder has been proved, 
and he refuses to pay the price of blood. He is gene- 
rally, however, induced to promise payment, by being 
refused communion. If he has not the money, he is 
placed in the custody of one of the relations of the 
dead, who compels him to travel from market to 
market, and town to town, and house to house, crying, 
" Ja nass — -ja nass I " * People contribute liberally in 
such cases. I have seen women give away their neck- 
laces and rings. 

August 28. — I had an interesting interview with 
Mamher Waldu, head of the priests of the Church 
Kedus Georges. We read Eom. iv. v., and Gal. v. I 
spoke with him about "faith that worketh by love ; " and 
how, as is proved by the examples of Abraham and 
David, it is the only thing that "availeth." I found him 
sober-minded and honest, and without prejudice — rare 
in an Abyssinian. Moreover, when I inquired about 
his views of original sin, in reference to the verse, " as 

* For my life — for my life. 



TRADITIONS. 67 

by one man sin entered into the world, and death by 
sin, and so death passed npon all men, because that all 
have sinned/' I found them much the same as ours. 
But I had a curious instance, somewhat of a similar 
sort to that related (June 27) before, of the way in 
which even the best among the Abyssinian priests 
allow foolish traditions and glosses to take the place of 
simple Scripture. I asked him what were their views 
about man's fall ? The simple Bible history was per- 
verted and put forth thus, — When Adam and Eve dwelt 
in innocence in Paradise, the devil, under the form of a 
serpent, seduced Eve into eating of a certain fig-tree, 
which God had forbidden. She persuaded her husband 
to eat with her ; but when he was on the point of 
swallowing the fruit, he remembered God's command, 
and spat it out. Hence the swelling on the throat of 
all males. They were then driven out of Paradise, 
which so affected Adam that he wept for one hundred 
years. Eve gave birth to twins twice — first to Cain 
and his sister, then to Abel and his — and each was to 
marry his twin. But it happened that Abel's sister- 
wife was more beautiful than Cain's, who envied his 
brother, but did not know how to get his wife for him- 
self. The devil therefore came to him, and advised 
him to put his brother to death. He replied, " How ? 
— death ! What is death ? " " Come/' said Satan, 
" and I will shew you." He therefore took him into a 
field, and placed a raven before him, saying, "Take 
this stone, and strike the raven on the head with it." 
Cain obeyed, and struck the bird dead. " Do in like 



68 FESTIVAL OF TECLA HAIMANOUT. 

manner," said the devil, " to thy brother." Cain did 
so, and Abel died. Thus death entered. Adam, when 
he saw this, was so afflicted, that he wept again for one 
hundred years. 

August 29. — To-day we witnessed a melancholy 
scene. It is the festival of Tecla Haimanout. The peo- 
ple, about two hundred in number, stood in the church, 
with pots full of water. These were blessed and conse- 
crated with the prayer of Tecla Haimanout, and are be- 
lieved to cure all diseases. Sick persons wash them- 
selves with it. 

We have many visitors ; but I have learned by 
experience that nothing is gained by disputes on 
the j)oints wherein we differ. I am persuaded that 
missionary work will be best promoted in Abyssinia by 
the free circulation of the Amharic Bible and Testa- 
ment throughout the country, and by reading it to the 
unlearned and with the learned, adding always a few 
simple and practical explanations. 

It is strange how superstitions gain credit, in spite 
of experience of their falsity. The following may well 
be classed with that about the healing power of the 
water, mentioned above. On the western side of 
Gondar stands the ruins of a church built by King 
Vasil. A solitary monk has been residing there for 
the last two years. For the last six days some Gondar 
debteras have shut themselves up in it, engaged in 
praying the prayer of St Ephraim, day and night. 
They believe that on the seventh day the water in the 
vessel, over which this prayer is offered, boils; it is 



GALL AS. 69 

then drank, and is considered as a preventative against 
forgetting what they have learned already, and as in- 
suring their learning with great facility for the future, 
and lastly, that it will make them share in the wisdom 
of St Ephraim the Syrian. 

September 7. — To-day they celebrate the festival of 
the angel Raphael, one of the greatest in the calendar. 
He is believed to open all the doors of heaven, of which 
he is porter, that God's blessing may come down on 
the earth, and all the fruits of the field. Earth is con- 
secrated in the church, to be used as medicine, and to 
drive away mice. Rain, falling to-day, is believed to 
possess a healing quality. Some did fall ; and all our 
household stood out in it, half undressed, and collected 
it in vessels, to wash themselves with. 

September 8. — We have a pleasing account to-day of 
the Galla, from Walda Georgis, a debtera of the Church 
of Bata Maream. He says they are hard of belief, and 
would need one who could work miracles to preach to 
them. They are very hospitable, and a stranger could live 
safely among them, were he a good and righteous man. 
They would love him as Wak * An openly profligate 
person would be in clanger. This character is import- 
ant to us. Uncertain as we are about the possibility 
of establishing a mission among the Christians in 
Abyssinia, it is well to know there is such a people, 
who would receive us kindly, and where there would 
be no obstacle, on the King's part, to our settlement. 

September 24 — Last Saturday we sent two of our ser- 

*God. 



70 LETTER TO THE KING. 

rants to the King with a letter (as much in the Abyssinian 
style as we could), and some pieces of work I had pre- 
pared for his Majesty. Seeing we cannot secure a fixed 
position in Abyssinia unless we work for him, we have 
determined to offer him our services. We think that, 
by occasionally giving him our labours, we shall have 
the opportunity of exercising a Christian influence over 
a number of Abyssinian lads, and instructing them in 
many useful things. For a long time we have struggled 
with difficulties, seeking for some way of establishing 
a mission. The very first thing to be done is to 
acquire the entire confidence of the King, in order to 
which we must come into close contact with him, 
(which we shall do by working for him), and exhibit a 
Christian conversation before him and all. We commit 
our plans to God, praying Him to order our course for us. 
We are encouraged by the remembrance that St Paul 
wrought for his support while he preached the gospel. 
Our letter, literally translated, was as follows : — 

" This letter is sent by Messrs Flad, Bender, Mayer, 
and Kienzlen, to the King of Kings, Theodorus. — 
Since we had the honour of taking leave of your Ma- 
jesty, till now, how did you do ? How did you pass 
the rainy season ? By your God, we are in the enjoy- 
ment of good health, and living in the district of the 
Etchegua, in Gondar. I, Flad, have made for your 
Majesty three holsters, a cartridge-box, a game-bag, 
and one for your son. When your Majesty was at 
Gondar, it was your royal pleasure that we should work 
for you, according to our capacities and skill; but 






ILLNESS — EEPLY OF THE KING. 71 

you have hitherto given us no orders about what we 
are to do for you. We therefore remained quiet. The 
works we can do are — Bender, masonry ; Mayer, gar- 
dening ; Kienzlen, carpentry. Your Majesty told us 
formerly to wait for you in Gondar, and that at your 
return you would be pleased to tell us your heart. 
Our money is diminished. Bender wishes to go to 
Jerusalem to fetch some. If your Majesty has any- 
thing to send thither, or wishes for anything from 
thence, be pleased to favour us with your commands. 

" The reader of this letter will bow himself for us." 

October 17. — I have suffered dreadfully since 1 7th 
of September. It began with violent toothache ; and 
one day, our shoes being all worn out, we resolved to 
go barefoot, as the people here generally do. I caught 
cold, which brought on a metat, as the Abyssinians 
call it — i. e., a tumor in my neck and right-jaw ; so 
that for many days I could swallow no solid food. To- 
day brother Kienzlen opened it with a lancet, which 
has relieved the intolerable pain. 

A letter has come from Mr Bell, by our servants 
whom we sent to the King : — 

" My dear Me Flad, — I presented your holsters, &c, 
to his Majesty, who was much pleased, and returns you 
many thanks. With regard to your sending brother 
Bender to Jerusalem, he says, ' Wait till we meet/ We 
are now going to Tigre. His Majesty says, moreover, 
if you wish to leave the country altogether, you are 
welcome ; but if you wish to stay here, you must not 
go backward and forward, till he has arranged his affairs 



72 APPREHENSIONS OF EXPULSION. 

with the Turks — i. e. s with the Coptic Patriarch of 
Cairo and Said Pacha. When that is done, you shall 
go backwards and forwards as you like. In the mean- 
time, if you like to stay in my country, which his 
Majesty has given me, you are welcome to build houses, 
and do as you like. — Your sincere, 

"F. F. Bell/' 
Besides the letter, we had verbal greetings from the 
King : — " I have nothing against your people, but I 
have many enemies. Bender dare not go to Jerusalem 
alone ; but if you all want to go, then come to me 
when I come into the neighbourhood of Gondar, and 
I will take leave of you. If you wish to remain, the 
Governor of Dembea shall supply your maintenance." 
We knew what this meant — to g:ive nothing. But we 
are in great difficulties ; we cannot make up our 
minds to go, and have still some money left. Our 
friends explain the King's language as an indirect ex- 
pression of a will that we should go, and we fear it 
may be soon changed into a command. The cause of 
all this, as explained by Aico John* (a man in high 
esteem, and undoubtedly the most honoured of all the 
former royal family), is this : — " The King gives you to 
understand/' he said " that you must go. The reason 
is, that news has arrived that the English and French 
have taken Palestine and Egypt from the Turks. The 
French are to have Palestine, and the English Egypt 
and also Ethiopia. They are on their way to take 
possession of Abyssinia ; their ships are already at 

* Shadow-king. 



INTERVIEW WITH THE KING. 73 

Massowah." This falsehood has been spread by a 
Syrian, named John, a bosom friend of the King, and 
a bitter enemy of Europeans ; so it is to be feared the 
King may send all Europeans away. It is incredible 
how easily the most absurd reports gain credit here. 
Many even intelligent people still believe that Mr Isen- 
berg brought soldiers in his trunks among his boohs ! 

Up to the 10th of November, the missionaries were 
still without any commands as to their movements. 
Their time was occupied with many conversations with 
persons of all classes, on the important truths of the 
gospel ; but on the 10th, Mad, who in the meantime 
had visited the baths of Weinsie, in company with Mr 
Plowden, went with him to the King at his camp, at 
Amora Gedal. " We found him/' the journal con- 
tinues, " seated on his carpet, surrounded with work- 
men, making bullets and gunpowder. He received us 
graciously, expressing the kindest sympathy on account 
of my tumor, which he immediately noticed, and 
his astonishment at what the white people could bear. 
'We,' he said, 'die of the slightest ailments/ He 
asked me if Bender could assist in repairing a bridge. 
I told him he could, and Mr Bell mentioned that 
Kienzlen understood working in wood, and would be 
ready to assist in the work. He was evidently pleased, 
saying, ' Eshe/ (it is right.) The consul then told him 
that in a year Bishop Gobat would send him workmen. 
He made no reply to this, but inquired whether Samuel 
Gobat was married, and how many children he had." 

After the interview I spoke with Mr Bell about our 



74 THE KING'S LAVISH ALMS. 

position, and asked his opinion of the King's expres- 
sions in his letter. He said, " I know the King will 
not send you away, but it will be impossible for you 
to remain, if you go about teaching. If some of you 
will cultivate the ground, and others work for the King, 
you may remain as long as you please. You will not 
be able to establish a mission, any more than Jacobi,* 
who expended 100,000 dollars, and was driven out 
after all. Eemain at Gondar, and when the King re- 
turns ask permission to establish a mission among the 
Gallas. He will, probably, consent ; if not, you can 
then return to Jerusalem/' After this interview, Flad 
returned to the baths, with Mr Plowden ; but receiv- 
ing no benefit from the waters, and Mr Plowden and 
Kienzlen declaring his disease to be a lymphatic gan- 
grene, which could not be cured in Abyssinia, he re- 
turned to the camp, to urge for permission to go to 
Cairo. While there, he witnessed a scene very charac- 
teristic of the King. 

Thursday, Nov. 18, is the festival of Kedus Michel. 
In the morning, the King went among the poor, 
lame, blind, and lepers, to distribute alms. Mr Bell 
reckoned the number who received alms, of from one to 
three pieces of salt, a dollar, clothes, a horse, or a mule, 
from 5000 to G000. He is so great a benefactor to 
the poor, that his army is often without food in conse- 
quence of his lavish generosity. The Abuna told me, 

f A Jesuit, who went about baptiziug and ordaining, as if there 
were no church in Abyssinia, and whom the King expelled as soon as 
he obtained the power. 



FLAD PERMITTED TO GO TO JERUSALEM. 75 

that on one occasion, when he had exhausted all he had, 
without being able to give to all, he sent to the Queen 
to beg her to give him her ornaments. She refused 
at first ; but he sent again, saying, " Be not troubled, 
my love, I will give you more beautiful ornaments, as 
soon as God shall give me more money/' She then 
sent them, and he distributed them, saying to each, as 
he gave a portion, " Go and sell this to the gold- 
smiths." 

I ought to have mentioned a week ago, that the 
King has dismissed the Patriarch, with many presents, 
and sends along with him an ambassador to Said 
Pacha. This facilitated my plans ; for, late in the 
evening, Mr Bell came to tell me that his Majesty had 
given me permission to go, when and where I pleased. 
" Martin may go," he said, " whenever and wherever he 
pleases. Hitherto I detained him on account of the 
Patriarch. I did not want any one to go to Egypt 
before I had settled the Egyptian affairs. Let Martin, 
however, remain a few days till I have prepared a 
letter, and present for Samuel Gobat. 

Wednesday, Nov. 25. — This morning the English 
consul and myself were summoned to the King. On 
our arrival, he caused a letter to the chief officer of 
Customs at Gondar to be read, which contained an 
order to give me a mule of the best sort, and a royal 
saddle for Bishop Gobat ; also an Abyssinian under 
garment, with a light dress, for Mrs Gobat, as a gift 
from the Queen ; also a mule for myself. He then 
commanded two letters to be written, one to the Queen 



76 KIND DISMISSAL BY THE KING. 

of England, the other to the Bishop, which he read 
himself, and ordered to be sealed ; after which he dis- 
missed us, praying God to bless me and restore my 
health, and commending me to His almighty protec- 
tion in my jonrney. The orders to the chief of the 
Customs were very precise, that the bishop's mule 
should be of the very best quality. He was allowed 
to spend from 30 to 40 dollars in the purchase. 

December 7. — After my dismissal by the King, I 
returned to Gondar, to prepare, and take leave of the 
brethren. This morning I bade farewell to many 
friends, who collected in the court-yard to bid me adieu. 
I addressed a brief exhortation to them. Quite a crowd 
accompanied me outside the walls, and many tears were 
shed. I felt much moved. I went with a heavy heart. 
The gloomy prospect of the mission, my illness, a deep 
sense of many shortcomings and sins during my resi- 
dence in this country — all depressed me. I could only 
ejaculate, " God be merciful to me a sinner/' I turned 
to my Bible for comfort, and found it. The Psalm 
lxxxvi. revived my spirit and strengthened my faith. 

March 19. — Arrived to-day at Cairo. The journey 
was much protracted by the Patriarch, with whom I 
travelled by the King's command, visiting the bishops 
and priests in all the villages. My gangrene is nearly 
quite healed. And now, " Bless the Lord, my soul, 
and forget not all His benefits. Who forgiveth thine 
iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth 
thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with lov- 
ing-kindness and tender mercies ! " 



CONVERSATION WITH THE KING. 77 

On the journey, I had much intercourse with Lie 
Mamheran Alaca Gebru Jesus, father confessor to the 
King, and ambassador to Said Pacha of Egypt, who ac- 
companied the Patriarch. We read much of the gospel 
together. One of his conversations revived my hopes 
of the ultimate success of the mission. He made a 
favourable impression on me. He is not so narrow- 
minded and bigoted as most other learned men in 
Abyssinia. The chief points in the doctrine of our 
salvation appears to him to be the Holy Trinity, 
and the two natures in Christ — that He is very God 
and very man, in one individual person. The chief 
differences between us are on the subject of obligatory 
fasting, and the worship of the Virgin Mary. He 
admitted the Abyssinians were alarmed lest we, as 
Englishmen,* should take possession of the country. 
" The King," he said, " often told me the English are 
good Christians, because they send many Bibles and 
Testaments gratuitously into our country. He is an 
enemy to our Gees, but a friend to your Amharic 
translation of the Bible. If it please God to establish 
him on the throne, he will banish the Gees lanoriao;e 
from our churches, and order portions of the Holy 
Bible to be read every Sunday and festival day to the 
people in the Amharic translation — only the Werdasy 
Marain (Song of the Virgin) will be read in Gees. 
He has himself made a commencement, by employing 

* By Englishman an Abyssinian understands not an English sub- 
ject, but a Protestant as distinct from a Frenchman, by which he 
understands a Roman Catholic. 



78 ADVICE OF THE CONFESSOE. 

a debtera to copy the Psalms out of your Bible for 
him, and uses them daily at prayers. I also am a 
friend to the Amharic language ; and, if the King 
shall accomplish this general use of it in the churches, 
then I believe the people will be happy and blessed/' 
I asked him if the King would be pleased if I came 
back with a fresh supply of Bibles. He raised his 
hand to heaven and said, " May God grant you health 
to do this ! But then you must lay your books at the 
King's feet, and say, ' These I bring for you and your 
people/ It will give the greatest pleasure to the King 
if he can distribute them to the people himself ; and I, 
if I live, will be your friend, and tell the King all the 
good I have heard and seen of you." My servant told 
me that he (the ambassador), and all the Abyssinians 
with him, speak well of me, and of what I have said 
to them. He said to my servant, " I never knew such 
a white man — he always speaks the truth according to 
the Word of God : I never heard him tell a lie — all he 
says is in the New Testament ; he is right when he 
says that, in our doctrines and ceremonies, we do not 
conform to the Sacred Scriptures, but go contrary to 
them. I do, however, agree with him — we do go 
astray from the doctrines of the gospel." My servant 
on this asked, "If you know this, why do you not 
bring back our Church to the gospel V "I am not 
able/' he replied, " to do this alone, against the 
Abuna, the Etchegua, and the priests — they would all 
oppose, and condemn me as a heretic." 

" And now it may perhaps be asked, What has been 



REVIEW OF THE MISSION. 79 

done in Abyssinia? and what can be done there at 
present ? 

"I. What has been done? 

" I answer, In all the provinces of Anihara, the Bible 
has been circulated in the vernacular tongue. Besides 
this, many copies have been sent into various parts of 
Shoa and Tigre. Many priests, who disliked and spoke 
against our Amharic books when we arrived in the 
country, now love and recommend them. Although we 
cannot hope that all the copies we have distributed are 
read with diligence, yet we are assured that a very large 
portion of them are read, both by the priests and their 
scholars. The religious conversations we held with the 
learned and unlearned, the high and the low, were 
spread far and wide, and much of our testimony was 
understood, received, and believed. Though we may 
scarcely speak of real conversion through our instru- 
mentality, still 'light has sprung up' in many a soul. 
The extent of what God may have wrought in those 
souls by His "Word, He alone knows ; we, as sowers, 
have sown the word, it is He must give the increase. 

" II. What can be done at present ? 

" I reply, The mission can do little more at present 
than continue to disseminate the Word of God, always 
the best missionary in any country, in the vernacular 
tongue. It would be a great benefit to tliem to have a 
new edition of the Psalm#bf David printed in a small 
size — no book is more in request than this. And 



80 PLANS FOE THE FUTTJEE. 

should the King realise his intention of introducing, 
throughout the whole of Abyssinia, the custom of 
having the Bible read every Sunday and festival day 
to the people in the churches, then, indeed, there would 
be hope for Abyssinia. The influence of the priests, 
monks, and debteras would be at an end, through the 
knowledge the people would thus acquire of the Sacred 
Scriptures. If Bishop Gobat, on the receipt of King 
Theodoras' letter and the promised present, would be 
willing to make a present in return of some thousand 
Testaments and some hundred Bibles, it would be re- 
ceived with thankfulness, and contribute to the achieve- 
ment of his purpose, to establish the happiness of his 
people upon the saving knowledge of the "Word of God. 
" My own personal desire is, God granting me health 
and life, to return to Abyssinia, and to continue, as 
described in my journal, our missionary work among 
the people in word and deed — some of us occasionally 
doing some work for the King. Then (whenever he 
shall have subdued the rebellion) we may be enabled 
to effect a permanent establishment. By degrees we 
may succeed in establishing schools, to educate young 
men as colporteurs, Scripture readers, and school- 
masters. This must be a work of time — it may even 
take years to accomplish. At the present moment our 
work seems clearly defined, viz. — To disseminate the 
Scriptures throughout the whole country, and to en- 
deavour, by useful labour and a pious walk and con- 
versation, to earn the confidence of the King and of 
his people!' 



EETUEN OF FLAD. 81 

The desire of Flad has been accomplished. From 
Cairo he went to Jerusalem, accompanied Bishop Gobat 
to Europe, and is now again in Abyssinia. The advice 
of the King's confessor was followed, as the following 
letter, the latest received from Abyssinia, shews, as well 
as that the mission may now be considered as estab- 
lished, with the full sanction of the King : — 

COPY. 

Gondab, May 4, 1859. 

My Loed, — Having been requested by the King to 
come to Gondar, on account of the illness of the British 
Consul, who is now sending a messenger to Massowah, 
I have begged him to forward this, as I wish to em- 
brace every opportunity of giving you information of 
what is going on in this country. Before coming here, 
I saw the brethren Flad, Saalmuller, and Waldmeyer, 
(just arrived from Egypt,) who related to me their 
trying experience in their journey. 

They, together with Mrs Flad, arrived at Matama, 
on the frontier, in perfect health, from which place 
they informed me of their safe arrival. We were then 
in the King's camp, who also received a letter from 
them, with which he was much pleased. Their journey 
forward into this country was somewhat retarded on 
account of an expedition of the King's to the Gallas ; 
and brother Schrol (a master-gunsmith, a man of deep 
and enlightened piety) fell ill, and died at Wohnd, of 
inflammation of the brain. Immediately after, his son 
(a fine lad of fifteen, and of the same profession) died 

F 



82 DEATHS OF MISSIONARIES. 

of typhus at Tchelga. Brother Mad next became ill 
nearly unto death, and was carried in a litter by men 
to this place. Meyer, also, (who had gone to meet the 
brethren,) and Saalmuller, caught the fever, but not 
seriously. Mrs Flad and Waldmeyer alone escaped, 
and are still in good health. I am grieved to com- 
municate such melancholy intelligence. The King is 
much grieved. He feels especially the loss of such a 
man as Schrol and his son, as he had long desired to 
have such a workman. But He who has done it 
knows why ; and all that our God does is good, and 
never to be blamed, as we can attest by many experi- 
ences in this country. I met the surviving brethren 
on the shore of the lake Zana, with the King. Our 
meeting, though joyful, was mingled with sorrow 
for the loss we have sustained. I found Mad free 
from fever, but still much reduced, and very weak. 
His wife is in excellent health. 

If you have received our.Eeport of December 1858, 
of our journey to the Woollo-Gallas, and of our con- 
versations with the King, you will easily believe me, 
and rejoice to hear it, that the King has received and 
welcomed the brethren in the best and kindest manner. 
As we now know the King's mind, we wrote to the 
brethren, (coming from Egypt,) requesting them at once 
to give his Majesty all the Bibles which the British 
and Foreign Bible Society had sent to him. Formerly 
we had advised that only a portion should be given. 
He received them with the utmost joy, and began im- 
mediately to distribute them. Whenever he gave a 



THE KING'S LIBEBAL VIEWS. 83 

Bible to any of the superior priests of the churches, he 
enjoined them henceforth to teach the people out of 
these books, in the vernacular Amharic alone. We 
have often conversed with him on this subject, and he 
is now most zealous in his endeavours to introduce the 
Amharic as the ecclesiastical language of the country, 
in which, if he succeeds, I shall consider the first and 
most important step is taken towards a reformation. 
He has already begun to act as a reformer. He con- 
siders the Holy Scriptures as all that is essential, which 
he thinks involves the belief of the Trinity, and right 
views of the sacraments. Outward ceremonies he con- 
siders unimportant, and will not compel foreigners to 
comply with them. He therefore conjured us thrice 
over to tell him, in truth, whether we believed the 
gospel. Each time we assured him we did, with our 
whole heart; that we made it our rule of faith and 
practice, and were ready to die for it. He exclaimed, 
"Now we are united; you are my children, of whom I 
am bound to take care. Let us jmrtake of the Lord's 
Supper together to-morrow." On that\ night we really 
made a covenant of friendship with him. Bender and 
I remained with him till midnight, and had a most in- 
teresting and agreeable conversation with him. " Yea/' 
he said, " ask what you will, and I will give it you." 

On the following day he engaged us to go with him, 
and shew him how to blast rocks ; and when he had 
seen us blast nine large stones, he was satisfied and 
delighted, and, unknown to us, proceeded with some of 
his chief officers to our tent, and ordered our servant to 



84 CONFIDENCE OF THE KING. 

give him some of our wine and provisions, of which he 
partook with his attendants. When we returned in the 
evening, we were delighted by finding the King there. 
He at once called us to him, saying, "Come, my 
children, you have long been my guests, it is now 
time that I should be yours." He made us sit by him 
and drink to his health. He remained till late at night, 
and, among other things, said, " Do not believe I am 
an Abyssinian at heart; no, I am as one of you." Next 
day he presented us with 400 dollars, and an order on 
the chief officer of Customs for 600 more — making 
about £120. He gave us, besides, silk gowns and 
Margaff-dereb— clothes only worn by the great people 
of the country. 

Thus you see that during the last year the Lord has 
been with us, and done more for us than we could have 
asked or expected, in moving the King to have such 
full confidence in us. He would not taste a drop of 
wine in any Abyssinian house for fear of poison. 

We are on tolerably good terms with the Abuna ; but 
he is a covetous man, and not very upright ; moreover, 
he is rather jealous at seeing the King's favour for us, 
and his disposition to follow our advice. 

I have just visited and examined our Jewish school, 
and have been much pleased with it. It now contains 
twenty-three boys; but now all, both young and old, 
will learn. The schoolmaster assures me that many 
Jews — some from great distances — come to ask him 
to instruct their children ; and he gives me hopes that, 
within a short time, the numbers will rise to fifty. I 



NOTICE OF THE ABYSSINIAN JEWS. 85 

saw, with pleasure, that all the children read fluently ; 
and I hope that, ere long, the Christians will be zealous, 
and ask for schools for their children. Lately, the 
King himself examined one of our boys, and was much 
pleased with him. We have taken him into our house. 

With kind regards from all the brethren to Mrs. 
Gobat and yourself, — I remain, an humble and weak 
pilgrim, J. J. Gottleib Kienzlen. 

The Anglican Bishop at Jerusalem. 

NOTICE OF THE FALASHA, OR ABYSSINIAN JEWS — 
APPENDED TO MR FLAD'S JOURNAL. 

" I beg to notice here a few particulars with regard 
to a portion of that remarkable nation, the Jews, in 
Habesh. I paid many visits among them, and had 
many conversations with them, but am not yet suffi- 
ciently acquainted with their Divine services, mariners, 
and customs, to give full satisfaction to those who are 
interested in them. They are reserved about these 
matters, and apt to evade answers to inquiries. They 
are most numerous in the provinces of Ouara and 
Gotsham. The Chief Eabbi resides in Ouara. But 
they are to be found scattered throughout Tchelga, 
Dembea, Woggera, and Shoa — in the latter their num- 
ber is represented to be considerable. Each Jewish 
village has in the middle its Mesjid (synagogue), witU 
its single door to the east ; but not always a priest. 
In these a light is always kept burning. Within, to- 
wards the west, carpets or mats are spread, on which 
the priest stands at prayer. They are always eunuchs. 



86 NOTICE OF THE ABYSSINIAN JEWS. 

Their sacerdotal garments consist of wide trousers, 
white ; a shirt of some fine white stuff, and a girdle of 
white Abyssinian cloth round the loins. They also 
wear a white turban. They use the Psalms at prayer. 
Besides the Sanbal (Sabbath) they strictly keep various 
other festivals enjoined in the law. No work is done 
from sunset on Friday till sunset on Saturday. They 
employ Mohammedans as their shepherds. They eat 
the Passover, calling it Korban (sacrifice) ; our Jews 
call it only the remembrance of the sacrifice. They 
observe the feast of unleavened bread, in remembrance 
of the Exodus, for a week. They also keep the Peast 
of Tabernacles and the new moons. Every Sabbath a 
lamb is offered at the Mesjid. The flesh, roasted, is 
eaten by the congregation — the bones and intestines 
are burnt. If they are unable to offer a lamb, bread 
is brought into the Mesjid, which they eat together, 
calling it an offering. The poorer partake first. The 
priests receive tithes of everything. They have but few 
schools — most of the children learn to read at the 
Christian schools. They live in lawful matrimony — 
sins of un chastity are almost unknown among them. 
Their gravediggers, who are seven in number, are un- 
clean after digging a grave, for seven days. They 
never allow a death to take place in their houses. The 
dying person is carried into a tent before the house, 
where he remains till he dies. After childbirth, a 
woman is unclean for forty days. If any of their cattle 
are torn by wild beasts, it is unclean, and given away 
to the Mohammedans. Those who live at enmity are 



NOTICE OF THE ABYSSINIAN JEWS. 87 

excluded from Divine service till they are reconciled 
before the priest. The Jews are more industrious than 
the Christians. They all practise agriculture, and have 
had land given to them for this purpose by the pre- 
sent king, who is very friendly to them. Besides agri- 
culture, they also practise masonry, smithcraft, weaving, 
&c, but never merchandise. 

" As regards missionary work among them, we can 
testify that they shewed a longing desire for the Word 
of God (the Old Testament.) Had we last year had 
some hundreds of Bibles, we might have distributed 
them amongst the Jews, with certainty that they would 
read them. They believe that Christ was the great 
prophet spoken of by Moses, (Deut. xviii. 15) — The Son 
of the Virgin, (Isa. vii. 14)— The Child, (Isa. ix. 6)— The 
Shiloh, (Gen. xlix. 10.) If asked why they do not 
'hear Him/ (Deut. xviii. 15, 18, 19,) they answer, 'Be- 
cause our fathers did not.' We once conversed with a 
priest about the prophecies of the Old Testament till 
he struck his head with his hands, crying out, ' Hold 
your peace ! hold your peace ! ! I will not hear any- 
thing about Christ. I will not believe in Him/ Our 
intercourse with them made us hope much from mis- 
sionary work among them, although the Abyssinian 
priests and Christians generally expressed their despair 
of ever bringing the Jews to believe in Christ. 'The 
Kamants and Tiggers/ they said, 'might sooner be 
converted than the Jews/ Our hope is, that this 
interesting people may be raised from their present 
degradation, and perhaps even become a salt for the 



88 NOTICE OF THE ABYSSINIAN JEWS. 

Abyssinian Church. In its present state, we could not 
advise any Jews who may be brought to believe on 
Christ, to join the Abyssinian Church. To form a 
separate church of believing Israelites might be dan- 
gerous. Our plan must be to instruct them as far as 
we can, and trust to God in His good time to make 
our way plain/' 



THE END. 



BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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